Continuing the Fight

Regis Foundation, Clip for a Cure
It’s been nearly twenty-eight years since Anita Kunin, seventy-five, was diagnosed with a pre-cancerous condition. It was 1978 and, at the time, breast cancer was not openly discussed. Kunin’s physicians gave her a range of medical options—from undergoing a double mastectomy to doing nothing and keeping a watchful eye on her health. Kunin chose the less-invasive route, deciding to wait and see if the cells became cancerous instead of undergoing surgery. Since she felt there was such a range of opinions about women’s health and little information available, Kunin went back to school to study public health and learn everything she could about the disease.

Kunin continued to go to the doctor about twice a year, and when she and her physicians found a lump in 1986, she was better informed about breast cancer than she had been before. She had a lumpectomy and underwent radiation, and now more than twenty years later, she hasn’t had any recurrances. But other women haven’t been as lucky. That’s why Kunin, the wife of Regis Corp. founder Myron Kunin, created the Regis Foundation for Breast Cancer Research in 1990.

The Regis Foundation had already been raising money for various philanthropic causes. But Kunin knew firsthand the importance of breast cancer research and wanted to make an impact in the search for a cure. After volunteering with the Komen Foundation in Texas (and helping to start the Twin Cities Race for the Cure), Kunin created the Regis Foundation for Breast Cancer Research, which focuses on fostering new and innovative research ideas.

At the heart of this foundation is the annual Clip for the Cure on the third Saturday in October, when participating Regis salons give 100 percent of a $15 haircut back to the foundation, donating the costs of labor and products. Salons can also donate a percentage of sales of the Regis product line.

Since 1990, Regis stylists have raised about $5 million for the Regis Foundation and breast cancer research, and Kunin credits the company’s employees and customers for their heroic efforts. “It’s not my story,” she says. “It’s the story of hundreds and hundreds of women.”

Hope Chest for Breast Cancer
Barbara Hensley, fifty-eight, is a different sort of breast cancer survivor. Though she has never suffered physically from the disease, she wears the emotional scars that come from watching loved ones suffer. Hensley’s two sisters died from breast cancer in 1994 and 1996. Three weeks after her second sister passed away, Hensley underwent a double mastectomy as a precaution against getting the disease herself. “To me, it wasn’t a question of if I’d get breast cancer, it was a question of when,” she says. “I wasn’t willing to put my family or myself through that.’”

It was this sort of trauma that led Hensley to quit her high-powered corporate job in 2001 and create Hope Chest for Breast Cancer, which has three parts. The nonprofit foundation donates thousands of dollars each year to local educational programs, research organizations, hospice care, and underserved women with breast cancer. A for-profit retail store sells donated upscale furniture, accessories, and designer women’s clothing, giving most of the proceeds back to the foundation. Finally, Hope Chest is actively seeking entrepreneurs to open franchises around the country.

Hensley came up with this business plan in 2001, opened her first store (in Orono) in December 2002, and was able to donate about $182,000 to her foundation in 2003. Her ultimate goal is to open fifty stores around the country and donate $10 million a year to breast cancer causes. “The hope of the Hope Chest is that my great-grandchildren won’t know what breast cancer is,” Hensley says. “Just like you don’t know what polio is. Let’s just get rid of it.”