By Emily Younker

eyounker@joplinglobe.com

Panera Bread in Joplin sold 17,421 pink ribbon bagels during October for breast cancer awareness and will donate $4,355.25 to the Hope 4 You Breast Cancer Foundation, Sarah Burkybile of the foundation said Tuesday.

“It was really awesome,” Burkybile said. “Everyone really supported it.”

Burkybile said 406 bagel packs — each containing 13 bagels — were delivered to the Pittsburg, Kan., area alone.

Although sales fell short of the foundation’s goal of 20,000 bagels, Burkybile said the total was more than last year’s total of about 15,000 bagels sold.

The final count also is in for Carl Junction Postmaster Sharon Clark’s breast cancer stamp fundraiser. During October, she sold 19,907 stamps, totaling $10,948.85. A portion of the total — $2,189.77 — was donated to national breast cancer research programs.

The U.S. Postal Service sells stamps depicting a woman doing a breast self-exam for 55 cents, with 11 cents of that donated to research programs.

Mammogram costs

Twenty-five cents per bagel went to the foundation. Burkybile said the money will help provide mammograms and clinical breast exams for uninsured or underinsured women. With mammograms generally costing between $100 and $150 for uninsured women, 30 to 40 women could potentially receive financial aid.

“Think how many women we can cover,” Burkybile said. “It’s going to make a huge difference in this community, so it’s pretty exciting.”

Shannon Miller, shift supervisor at Panera Bread, said she was honored to help with the fundraiser.

“Anything that goes to any kind of foundation like that, it’s just a good feeling because I think just about anybody knows somebody with breast cancer,” Miller said. “It makes it that much more special to be a part of it.”

Miller said she helped box up bagels on Friday mornings and sometimes helped the baker roll out the dough. She said she could tell Panera was going to sell more bagels than it did last year.

“On a daily basis, yeah, more people were coming into the store just to buy the pink ribbon bagel,” she said.