The Vine

Here’s a wonderful story about the power of one passionate, dedicated individual to engage a community.

After losing his grandmother to cancer, Joe LaBelle wanted to create better access to cancer-screening equipment for women in rural locations. His initial idea—staging a girls’ high school basketball game—was stifled by bureaucratic red tape. So with the support of his employer, Ashland Health Center, he went bigger.

On October 31st, a who’s who of women’s basketball stars arrived from all over the country to stage a charity hoops event in Ashland, Kansas—a town so small it doesn’t even have a hotel; players and coaches stayed in the homes of local residents.

What began as a fundraiser is now growing bigger still. Five neighboring communities and two hospitals have partnered to form WEPAC Alliance, a non-profit organization that provides resources and education to encourage local women to take active responsibility for their health. The partnership has earned national media attention and is becoming a model for other communities around the country.

“Lack of size and/or resources should not hinder [small communities],” the organization declares on its website. “With the state of the economy, it is easy to find reasons to complain or excuse low performance. These are five rural Kansas communities (totaling approx. 2,500 people) that are finding solutions instead of excuses.”