Booneville Woman's Club project lends comfort to breast cancer survivors. (Southern Scrapbook).

Undergoing surgery or treatment for breast cancer is often a frightening and painful ordeal. But as the Booneville Woman's Club has proven, sometimes a small show of support can make a world of difference to a woman going through such a process.

According to recent statistics, the incidence of breast cancer has increased from 1 in 20 women in 1960 to 1 in 8 today. Knowing this, Mississippi Federated Women's Clubs president Celia Fisher chose "Breast Cancer: Research and Early Detection" as her President's Special Project. In keeping with that theme, the Booneville President's Special Project chairman--herself a cancer survivor--set out to launch a local project in support of Fisher's initiative. Her group would make breast cancer comfort pillows--small pillows filled with a very soft stuffing, used to give breast cancer patients relief from the discomfort caused by mastectomy or lumpectomy.

The idea came from the Mira Mesa Junior Woman's Club in San Diego, Calif., whose members still make these pillows themselves and encouraged the Booneville club in its efforts. So far, the Booneville Woman's Club has made 500 breast cancer comfort pillows.

To kick off the project, the project chairman found a person who would donate yards and yards of beautiful, silk-like material, and several others donated stuffing. No money was spent. This was not to be a fund-raiser, but something to give to those women who needed them.

The group worked together in a wonderful way. Several women got together and cut out most of the 500 pillows. Those that had sewing machines took the cut-out fabric home with them and sewed them up. Since this was a cooperative project between the Booneville Woman's Club and their student-sponsored group, the Booneville Juniorettes, the younger women did their part too. At one of their meetings, the Juniorettes stuffed all the pillows that their adult counterparts had cut and sewn. When they were all stuffed, those with sewing machines finished the pillows by sewing up the "stuffing area."

The pillows have been given away throughout the area through local doctors, the hospital, and cancer centers in a nearby town. One pillow was sent to a local woman's relative in North Carolina. She called her mother the morning after receiving it to say, "Please thank the Booneville Woman's Club for the comfort pillow. I slept all night. And the reason I did was having my comfort pillow tucked under my arm. That was wonderful."

The project's reach continues to expand. Cancer survivors are now calling club members for the pillows and requesting them for friends. The doctors who have them on hand say they are pleased with the results their patients are getting from them.

Louise Sanders, the Booneville Woman's Club president, said she went for her own mammogram recently and saw on a shelf a basket of breast cancer comfort pillows with little labels that said "Compliments of the Booneville Woman's Club." "I realized at that time what a great project we had started and completed, and I felt so grateful to all our members for being a part of such a worthwhile project," Sanders said.

The Booneville Woman's Club is a part of the greater General Federation of Women's Clubs. GFWC programs and projects encompass the major issues of the present time: community improvement, women's health, preservation of natural resources, life-long learning, abuse prevention, literacy, opportunities for the disabled, and equality. There are 6,500 clubs in communities large and small across the United States, with members ranging from teenagers to retired persons. There are 50 state federations plus the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, 8 regions, and 421 districts. And there are millions of members worldwide in 20 countries.

The GFWC was founded in 1890. The Mississippi Federation of Women's Clubs was begun in 1898, with its headquarters in Jackson. The Booneville Woman's Club was organized and federated in 1922.