Pawsitively 4 Pink

Pawsitively 4 Pink is a nonprofit organization established in 2018. We provide financial assistance for low-income, underserved women diagnosed with breast cancer in Massachusetts. Statewide and local demographics reflect the need for our services. Massachusetts is in the top five states for having the highest rates of breast cancer. It is the state’s second leading cause of death and has the highest incidence rate for new cancer cases at 134.5 per 100,000. Four out of the five New England states have the highest diagnosis rate in the country. They also have fewer resources.

Several factors make Pawsitively 4 Pink unique in our mission. We will assist a woman regardless of traditional or holistic therapies, and we will help up to six months out of treatment. When a woman completes therapy, there is no other organization that will assist her.

At Pawsitively 4 Pink, we are also dog people, and we know the meaningful impact dogs have in our lives. They make us laugh, they comfort us when we’re feeling blue, and they keep us engaged with the world. Our experience with the dogs we love is enough to prove that they’re good for our health. Understanding this, Pawsitively 4 Pink knew we had to include our furry friends in our endeavor. So, Pawsitively 4 Pink helps a woman adopt and train a local shelter dog as an emotional support dog. Having a dog to look after, feed, exercise, and love helps cancer patients divert their focus away from illness and onto something over which they have some control. For cancer patients, time spent with dogs can have an incredible, lasting impact.

Pawsitively 4 Pink (P4P) aspires to be the largest nonprofit organization in New England that provides financial assistance to low-income, underserved women who have been diagnosed

with breast cancer. Our mission is to ensure their medical care and recovery are not hindered by financial insufficiency but sustained by hope.

Pawsitively 4 Pink has raised over $700,000 in the past five years, despite the inability to fundraise during the two-and-a-half-year COVID concerns. The majority of all money raised went towards the direct financial needs of any woman who met the federal guidelines for low-income and was diagnosed with breast cancer. 

Pawsitively 4 Pink recently helped support a woman for three years. She and her husband had a thriving daycare for over 15 years, but once Bitadni was diagnosed with stage 4 metastatic breast cancer, doctors recommended she close her daycare. Devasted, desperate, and concerned about her financial well-being, Bitadni turned to Pawsitively 4 Pink for assistance. We were able to pay her rent for the next 36 months. This type of support is unprecedented. 

We are happy to report that Bitadni is currently in remission.

This request is pertinent to the mission of Pawsitively 4 Pink. Given the current economic state and the fact that there is no other organization doing what we do in New England, there has never been a more critical time to assist low-income women and their families.