ZTA Pink Ribbon Cheer Classic

08/29/2023

The Youngstown Alumnae ZTA's are so excited to host our Survivor Recognition Walk at the Eastwood Mall on Sunday October 22nd! All Breast Cancer Survivors Welcome to participate!

Survivor Registration: 11-11:45 a.m.
Performances and Survivor Walk 12:00 p.m.

Walk will be in the center of the Eastwood Mall (by the Aquarium across from Victoria's Secret and H & M)!

Survivor's wanting more information can fill out the link below to receive emails!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1ABGezi7Nz6lCJ0MNbGl9c5aOXrSzzb13jGtbHdzPw3U/edit

Questions about the event? Email us at [email protected]

12/05/2022

Hello Everyone!
Brought to you by The Holly Ritchie Team and STN | Spanning the Need, I was chosen to be considered for the The Inspirational Person of the Year 2022 The winner will receive $500 with $250 to go to the winner and the other $250 will go to a charity of their choice.

Through the Pink Ribbon Cheer Classic we have donated locally to the Joanie Abdu Comprehensive Breast Care Center, which is the charity of my choice if chosen as the winner.

If you would like to vote for me, Kim James, here is the link!
https://spanningtheneed.com/vote/
You can vote up to 10 times in a 24-hour period per individual email address.

Vote for Inspirational Person of the Year 2022 DETAILS: Brought to you by The Holly Ritchie Team and STN | Spanning the Need, voting begins December 5th at 8 am, and closes December 15, 2022, at 5 pm. The Inspirational Person of the Year 2022 will be announced on Tuesday, December 20th at 7pm on all...

10/31/2022

Attention Breast Cancer Survivors!

Our October looks quite different without planning and holding our event, and as the month went along, it became clear that we were missing most was our opportunity to celebrate with the local survivors, hence a new event idea was formed.

We will create the Survivor Ceremony like the ZTA Pink Ribbon Cheer Classic in a one of a kind event that will honor the breast cancer survivors in our Valley. This event will be held in October at the Eastwood Mall and will have the same sentiment and touches that made our survivor ceremony special.

Look for information in the new year with our event announcement, details, and how you can be a part of it!

Breast Cancer Survivors who would like to be put on our email list can click the link below and we will make sure you receive the information for our event in 2023!
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdYeUo6110GPkpkq3wbWWqMQKvVJQlON56C8MQBs8UU_G1gsw/viewform

10/31/2022

Our final Media Monday!
We had a lot of great opportunities to promote our event.

It was always fun driving around the valley and seeing our Billboard with the event announcement
Many news stations covered the event before and after getting tons of coverage of our event.

There were many newspapers who wrote a variety of different articles about the event too!

Thank you to all of the media both local and national who covered our event over the years!

10/30/2022

The true heart of the event was our Survivors and honoring their fight. The entire event was about honoring those in our communities effected by breast cancer.

Each team dedicated their routines to those in their community they knew effected by the disease. This idea came in the event’s first year when survivor Nancy Walters was invited to attend the event to see the routine dedicated to her. The reaction of gratitude she gave inspired the idea for all of the teams to dedicate their routines in honor of each squad’s community survivors, fighters, and those who live on in their memory.

Each survivor attended the event with free admission and were given gifts, including the event Survivor t-shirt. They were then invited to participate in our survivor ceremony where every survivor in attendance was honored.
This concluded with pictures and a balloon release at the end of the day, uniting the survivors in attendance with a special moment.
This is the part of the event missed most.

Our survivor’s and their families following this page should look for a special announcement tomorrow evening! Stay tuned!

10/29/2022

One of my favorite and most surprising moments of the Pink Ribbon Cheer Classic was in 2011 when the event concluded with a marriage proposal. When you are busy planning an event of this magnitude, no matter how many signs were right there in front of my face, I was too involved in the event planning to notice an engagement was near!

In the month's leading up to the event, then the days before and after, it takes a truly special person to understand why the event meant so much to me and why every single detail mattered. No matter my request big or small, from the time we began dating until the conclusion of the final event, Rajah made this event a priority in our lives.

From moving mats and picking up donations, to coordinating volunteers and working the parking lot, it meant a lot to see that the event became just as much a part of his life as mine.

In 2020, when we could not hold an in-person event, he worked tirelessly to make sure that the Virtual Pink Ribbon Cheer Classic was everything I hoped it could be. Rajah took the interviews , photos, and videos, and created what is not a special compilation of the greatest event moments and milestones, and gave us the story of the Pink Ribbon Cheer Classic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aeu0ZZmgUg

10/29/2022

After the decision was made to postpone our in-person event due to the pandemic, a new idea was created. Through interviews with ZTA's who participated in the 19 events prior, and with photos and videos contributed from our cheer squads, survivors, and ZTA members, a video documentary of the event was put together.

Event Founder Kim James calls the event "The Pink Ribbon Cheer Classic in reverse" as her husband Rajah took the interviews, videos, and photos, and created the story of the ZTA Pink Ribbon Cheer Classic, and she was simply asking "how can I help?"

This was a two hour presentation of how the event started, how it grew over the years, and how it became a tradition for the Youngstown ZTA's, the cheer squads, and community survivors.

It included some of the event milestone's, the special touches that made the event special, and is a wonderful compilation of what the event meant to so many people. ZTA collegiate members and alumna spent time conducting interviews and Rajah out together this story.

To see this video click the link below
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aeu0ZZmgUg

10/28/2022

When the event began in 2001, the thought that it could raise such a large amount for breast cancer was never on the radar.

With the response from the cheer squads and community, each year the event grew larger and larger, and through the hard work from our ZTA chapters and chairs, a goal was always established, sometimes exceeded, and many times a shocking amount was raised.

Thanks to a TON of donations to put on the event, we were able to achieve the successful fundraiser that the event became.

Even in a pandemic year with a virtual event, we still had generous donations made. Pictured is the running rounded tally of our event totals by year!

10/27/2022

Each year, we were so grateful to have many local businesses, ZTA parents, friends, and ZTA alumna who would donate to our Chinese and silent auction.

ZTA members would "hit the pavement" going from business to business looking for donations for the event.

From American Girl dolls, to a Prom or wedding dress, the generous donations we received helped to make this part of our event successful!

10/26/2022

The ZTA Pink Ribbon Cheer Classic could never have grown to the event it was without the phenomenal crowd that came every year. We are so grateful for the community support that made the event happen and the spectators, family members, and friends who came each year to support their favorite cheer team, breast cancer survivor, or ZTA member.

One of the greatest feelings was taking a moment to look out into the crowd of the sea of people who came to support a loved one.

One of the most breathtaking parts of the event was at the end of the survivor ceremony and seeing the crowd rise to their feet giving a standing ovation.

Thank you to the family, friends, and fans who came each year.

10/25/2022

Teamwork Tuesday

Find your tribe and love them hard...

Throughout the years of the event, it cannot go unnoticed that there were many wonderful women who went above and beyond to make the event happen year after year.

The ZTA alumna who continued to hold chair positions and continued to return each October for the event volunteered so much time to make the event happen each year.

Unfortunately we do not have pictures of every chair, but these people held chair positions or volunteered for several years after their college ZTA experience to continue the success of the event.

I have never ending gratitude for everything these women did, big or small, to continue to make this event happen.

10/24/2022

The ZTA Pink Ribbon Cheer Classic was lucky to find a radio sponsor in the first year of the event. When ZTA member suggested her brother in law as an event Emcee, who would have known it would create an amazing partnership with Clear Channel Radio and their station 95.9 Kiss FM Youngstown.
Jerry Mac, who was the event Emcee for over half of the events duration, helped to not only run the event on that day, but created a partnership with the station and assisted in helping to get big ticket items donated for our raffles and even the pop donation for many years for our concession stand.

We were lucky to have great radio personalities continue to emcee our event throughout the years, including Chrissy Patrick, Dave & Jimmy to name a few!

Nothing could possibly be more cool then getting in the car and hearing the commercial that would play for a month long advertising registrations for the event and then the event details out to the community!

Cheer teams and the ZTA sisters were also invited to publicize the event by hosting some of the radio station's evening countdowns.

The event transitioned and in the last few years, Hot 101 took over the event sponsorship and continued the wonderful event publicity.

The wonderful relationships built through the event are certainly special and unforgettable.