Local Clubs Bring the Love for Little Pink

Little Pink Houses of Hope, the North Carolina-based national nonprofit that provides free, weeklong vacation retreats for families battling breast cancer, is holding its fourth annual Marco Island retreat May 31 through June 6.

Nine families from as far away as California, Indiana, and Utah will experience the beauty and amenities of Marco, thanks to the generosity of the island’s homeowners, businesses, and local nonprofits, who have provided homes for the families, free meals, and donated activities.

Little Pink relies on a host of local volunteers known as “Team Pink” to plan and execute the event, as well as a corps of specially trained “Volunstars” who are flown in by the organization to act as personal concierges for the families, attending to their needs for the week.

Behind the scenes, however, is a host of local volunteer organizations who spend months to lend heartfelt personal touches to the families’ vacations in Marco.

Since Little Pink’s first Marco Island retreat in 2023, the Marco Island Woman’s Club, the Marco Island Shell Club, and the Calusa Garden Club of Marco Island have been using their time, talent, and treasures to ensure the retreat families leave Marco knowing the community cares about them in a way that goes beyond financial donations.

Maureen Chodaba, past president of the Woman’s Club and herself a 31-year breast cancer survivor, last year organized an effort among club members to pen handwritten notes for their fellow survivors attending the retreat.

Chodaba said her inspiration for the effort came from another nonprofit she volunteers with called Girls Love Mail, a group that collects handwritten notes for newly diagnosed breast cancer patients.

“I thought it would be nice if we could write something for the Little Pink families,” she said. “We wanted the focus to be not on their cancer recovery, but on the fact that they’re here to reconnect with their families and just enjoy Marco Island.”

The club, which Chodaba says has a number of breast cancer survivors, provides a significant financial donation to the retreat each year and provides volunteers to help serve the retreat’s kick-off dinner.

“There’s something about the members of the Woman’s Club,” Chodaba said. “They just want to pitch in and help any way they can. We love doing it.”

As with the Woman’s Club, the Calusa Garden Club has been lending its talents to the Little Pink event since the organization’s first Marco retreat in 2023, when board member Marianne Foley offered to have club members create flower arrangements for the families’ homes and several of the week’s events.

Foley, who is also a breast cancer survivor and member of the Team Pink corps of local volunteers who help plan and execute the event, said Little Pink is a perfect fit for the organization’s talents.

“I’m guessing that every member of the garden club has been touched by breast cancer either with a relative or friend or being a survivor,” Foley said. “Marco Island is a very generous community, and it gives us pleasure to share a week of respite in paradise.”

Also involved from the start is the Marco Island Shell Club, whose members create handmade baskets of gifts and crafts made from our beautiful local shells.

“Little Pink Houses of Hope is especially interesting to us because we do have several survivors in our club,” said club president Becky Miller.

In February, the club members were busy creating handmade items for the retreat families before many of the members left for the season. The items were all assembled into gift baskets in May, in time for the families’ arrivals.

“Some will make flowers. Some will make jewelry. Some make holiday items, and others make critters,” Miller said. “We try to make things for the children, something for adults, something for the home. That’s how we make our contribution to a group that’s very special to us, and it’s especially dear to select members who have experienced what these women are experiencing.”

Brad Shaw, volunteer coordinator of the Marco Island Little Pink retreat for the last four years, said that local clubs make the Marco retreat a truly special occasion for the families.

“The feedback we get from our families about the Marco retreat is often described as life-changing,” Shaw said. “While the beautiful surroundings, homes, and amazing water adventures and meals certainly contribute to that, the personal touches from our local volunteer groups are what truly tell our families that this is a community that cares.”

For more information about Little Pink’s annual Marco Island retreat, contact Brad Shaw at brad@littlepink.org.