This month, we talked to Angela Fuentes, President and Treasurer of Step Sisters, about their upcoming Ribbon Run, helping breast cancer patients locally, and neighbors.

Who are the Step Sisters and what is your mission?

We’re a group of women who came together many years ago to make an impact on breast cancer. We’ve evolved over time and in 2014 we changed our mission to improve the quality of life for breast cancer patients in the local area. We fund services such as transportation to and from treatment, house cleaning and food delivery through local vendors like Reston Limo and Dulles Taxi for the transportation, Brambleton’s own Regal Maids help with the house cleaning and Washington’s Green Grocer does the food delivery. That local focus is important to us, we’re serving Loudoun County and helping people that you may even know directly.

What is the Ribbon Run?

The Ribbon Run is our biggest event that includes a 5k race and kids’ fun run, and it’s coming up on April 16. We also have a huge sponsor showcase that’s named after one of our fellow Step Sisters who passed away a few years ago, called Sharon’s Showcase. We have a lot of local vendors and other breast cancer organizations coming, and they’ll have tables there hosting giveaways and sharing info. Our goal is to share how we’re all united towards the same goal in the end, and it’s bringing awareness and helping the people that are going through breast cancer.  Editor’s note: There are so many vendors, including many from the Brambleton Town Center. You can see them all here. 

How many people are registered?

We have close to a thousand people registered this year. Plus a lot more than that come out just for the event itself and for the fact that it’s local to the community and for a great local cause.

How many years has the Ribbon Run been going on?

We started out as a community walk and it sprouted over the years to include a certified 5k course and added the 10k a few years ago, but we’ve been doing the Ribbon Run for nine years now.

Why should people come out if they’re not running?

Anyone who comes out to the Ribbon Run—and really, any of our events—is contributing in some way to the Step Sisters. I am a seven year survivor, and when I was going through breast cancer treatment, because we live in this great community, I had a lot of people bringing me meals and giving me rides to appointments if my husband couldn’t do it, and just showing a lot of support. So helping the Step Sisters out is kind of a way to pay forward and participate in helping other people going through the same thing.

What makes Brambleton a prime spot for the Ribbon Run?

One of the things I love about living here is that we have this concept of neighbors helping neighbors a lot, and so by coming out to support us—whether you’re running or not—you really are supporting women locally who are going through this. Brambleton continues to support us with our mission because they really do care about fostering that local community.

How else can people get involved with Step Sisters?

We do have other events coming up that we would love help with. There is an auction coming up on May 6^th, and for that we’re still looking for some more items to auction off. We have a sign up page where people can come together and be creative and put together a basket for the auction.

In the fall we have our Step Sisters Scramble at the Golf Club at Lansdowne on October 6 that people can sign up to participate in.

Lastly, October’s a big breast cancer awareness month, so we get a lot of people and organizations that want us at their event, so we’re always looking for volunteers to represent us at a booth or a table during that month. We also share other ways to volunteer throughout the year through our newsletter.  [Editor’s note: sign up here!]

Are you running this weekend?

I wish I could! I’ll be working the event and making sure everything is going smoothly, but my family and a bunch of friends and neighbors are coming out to run!

I’m sure it’s pretty difficult to juggle both!

(laughs) There’s a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that needs to be taken care of while people are out on the course, so that’s where I’ll be.

Learn more about Step Sisters, the Ribbon Run and how to get involved at http://www.stepsisters.org

Humans of Brambleton is our blog feature that focuses on one of the many interesting personalities who calls Brambleton home. If you’re interested in being a future Human of Brambleton, email us at brambletoninfo@gmail.com.