'Pink Glove Dance' makes finalists' competition

Story and Photos By ROGER EMILE STOUFF
Locals filed into the Teche Theater for the Performing Arts in Franklin Tuesday evening to see the long-awaited ‘Pink Glove Dance’ video created this summer.
The performance made it to the list of finalists for the 2016 Medline Pink Glove Dance competition.
Franklin Foundation Hospital Director of Marketing-Business Development Dawn Kaiser-Melancon and Teche Action Clinic’s Ed Verdin were hosts.
“All of the agencies in our community are charged with doing community outreach,” Kaiser-Melancon said. “So what we tried to do was bring that collective effort together and do it together in a unity of agencies, so that we can all put our best foot forward and help our community make better choices toward health and wellness.”
Kaiser-Melancon is also chairman of the Fit Fun and Fabulous event scheduled for October in the city. Acording to the Pink Glove dance website, the video competition started “because of the overwhelming and enthusiastic response to the original Pink Glove Dance video, where 200 people at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Oregon, danced to the catchy tune ‘Down’ by Jay Sean.”
The competition is the only breast cancer prevention campaign that has united healthcare professionals, survivors, patients and communities to honor those who have been affected by the disease and raise money for a cure, a handout during the event explained.
After filming was complete, it was edited by Howard Castay of KBZE-FM in Stephensville.
Verdin said bringing the community together resulted in the video. “I was so excited to do this because we put our focus on the community, we took the focus off of us,” Verdin said. “We’ve been meeting for 10-11 months to bring another event to Franklin, all of us coming together for a common goal, to lift up everybody in our community.”
Local football legend Leonard Marshall will be at Fit, Fun and Fabulous when the event unfolds.
Koryn Hawthorne from “The Voice” will perform at the Franklin Senior High School stadium.
Fit, Fun and Fabulous in Franklin is a free event that is open to the public set for Thursday, October 6 to promote wellness and Franklin’s downtown from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. 4F continues at Franklin Senior High School’s stadium at 5 p.m. for special events and performances.
The audience was presented representative videos culled from many hours of footage, and featuring community members, local officials and healthcare staff members and many others.
There will be health screenings, children’s health activities, guest speakers, demonstrations and presentations along Main Street and discussions of women’s and men’s health issues at The Lamp Post.
The Franklin Police Department and the Franklin Fire Department and the St. Mary Parish Council and the Franklin City Council will compete in tug-of-war competitions. Also, the organizers invite everyone to join in the pink glove dance in support of breast cancer awareness. To end the day, Chez Hope will host a candlelight vigil. These activities will take place at Franklin Senior High School’s stadium.
This event coincides with the monthly First Thursday promotion, and merchants on Main Street will be open until 6 p.m. For more information about First Thursdays and how to become a participating business, contact the Office of Community Development at 337-828-6345 or ashields@franklin-la.com.