Woodbury Susan G. Komen 3-Day Team Closes in on $70,000 Raised

Woodbury resident Steph Jakubik started walking in the Susan G. Komen 3-Day in 2009 after her mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Just two years later, doctors told her that she, too, had been diagnosed with the disease.

And while they’re both “doing great” and now cancer-free, Jakubik this summer will mark her fifth year walking 60 miles across the Twin Cities for the breast-cancer research fundraiser.

“My passion is getting the funding for research,” she said. “I would like to see a cure.”

Jakubik’s team, the Pink Divas, is certainly doing its part.

She said she expects the group will have raised $70,000 over the past five years by the time this summer’s Susan G. Komen 3-Day is complete.

Jakubik, along with friends and neighbors who are part of her team, must walk 20 miles a day for three straight days during the event, set for Aug. 23-25.

They’re now in training, walking 4-5 times a week and doing cross training. Jakubik compared it to getting ready for a marathon.

“We go through tennis shoes pretty quickly,” she said.

When it comes to fundraising, she and her friends hold a garage sale each year, their husbands host a poker party, and Mainstream Boutique has a shopping event that benefits the effort.

Jakubik said it’s hard to describe the “amazing camaraderie” that develops during the Susan G. Komen 3-Day, which can draw up to 2,500 people.

“It’s a life-changing event; it’s an amazing thing,” she said. “There’s a lot of laughs. There’s a lot of tears.”

The goal for the Pink Divas this year is $20,000. They were at more than $17,000 as of Wednesday, July 24.

Find more information on the group’s webpage.

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