KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Volunteers gathered in Knoxville on Saturday morning to pack baskets of small comforts for people going through cancer treatment, as the local nonprofit I AM the Voice of the Voiceless held its fifth annual breast cancer basket wrap party.
The three-hour Comfort for the Journey event, held during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, took place on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue inside the Connect Ministries Building. Community donations filled every basket with items such as journals, books, socks, lap blankets, shawls, lip balm, pink glasses, hand-crocheted pumpkins and peppermints that can ease nausea.
Counting baskets assembled earlier in the month, organizers expect to hand-deliver about 30 to patients across Knoxville and Knox County. The group has partnered with UT Medical to get baskets to people in treatment.
Founder and CEO Vivian Shipe began the effort five years ago after watching cancer touch her own family. Her mother survived cancer four times, and her sister, along with friends and members of her church, has also been through it. Shipe said the stretch between a diagnosis and the end of treatment can feel isolating, and the baskets are meant to tell patients that people care and that they are not facing it alone.
The event also honored a longtime local breast cancer survivor with a plaque.
Shipe, a Pellissippi State graduate who earned the college’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2021, founded the nonprofit to offer education and resources to vulnerable residents. Her board service has included the Elder Abuse Task Force for Knoxville and Knox County and the regional Mental Health Association.
Filed under: Knoxville TN Health News
