About Us
Viva Las Chicas holds monthly awareness events, reaching out to our community on a one-to-on basis. Our goal is to educate, empower, and enlighten women and men in regards to their self care, and, if needed, their options and resources for assistance. What begins as the simple act of pinning a pink ribbon on someone often becomes a conversation that can save a life. In an effort to reach out to the diverse population of the Tampa Bay area, we hold our awareness days at a variety of venues and events such as St Petersburg's Saturday Morning Market, the St. Pete Pier, the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, USF, Downtown Tampa, Gulfport Goes Green, St. Pete Pride, and Gulfcoast Oncology Foundation's Patient Appreciation Picnic among others.
Members of our organization are available to provide Triple Touch Training, a comprehensive approach to Self Breast Exams approved by the American Cancer Society. Viva Las Chicas has held Triple Touch Training at events such as YMCA’s Women’s Wellness Retreat and for groups in women’s shelters, schools, and offices.
Viva Las Chicas assists individuals and families after a breast cancer diagnosis by providing services such as laundry, support, even supplying meals. Our survivors are willing to make a call to the newly diagnosed to answer questions or to just listen. Viva Las Chicas affirms that each family is unique and our support is individualized to meet each family’s needs.
The diagnosis of breast cancer is the beginning of an all-consuming, life changing fight for survival. While an individual is the center of that fight, the entire family will fight the battle. So much of that person's time and energy is exhausted by their treatment and recovery that simple daily tasks we all take for granted become daunting.
Viva Las Chicas is there to step in as needed and take on some of those daily tasks. Be it keeping up with the laundry, caring for children so that their mother can nap and recover her strength, or making sure meals are available when there is no strength to cook. Our goal is to bring as much of a sense of normalcy as possible into the family's life. The biggest gift we can give is time: time to spend as a family without the pressures of these day-to-day tasks. Sadly, sometimes all we have is time.
We support and participate in events such as the LiveSTRONG Challenge, the Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, BMW Drive for the Cure, Relay for Life and many more.
Viva Las Chicas hopes and prays for a world free of breast cancer. Until that day comes, we will do all that is in our power to give people the tools they need to live a long, happy, and above all healthy life.
Our History
Before there was Viva Las Chicas (VLC), there was just a "Chica" who wanted something different for her birthday. She requested that her family and friends join her on a 60-mile walk, raise over $12,000, and give rather than receive. And, in two months, five courageous women did just that. They called themselves Viva Las Chicas, translated as “Long Live the Ladies”.
VLC Founder and Board Member Amberlea Moody is the original "Chica," a nickname she picked up traveling in search of education and adventure in Europe. After returning from Europe, Amberlea, who had already lost her father to melanoma when she was just sixteen, was forced to deal with the fact that her grandfather was in the final stages of colon cancer. She was at her wits end, angry, feeling hopeless, and wasn't sure what to do next.
Then Amberlea heard an advertisement for the 2002 Breast Cancer 3-Day. While she knew she couldn't change losing her father or the looming loss of her grandfather, this event was a way for her to focus her energies and raise money and awareness about a cause near and dear to her heart, CANCER. Once the first steps of that walk from Boca Raton to Miami, Florida were taken, Amberlea was hooked. She knew she had to channel the good energy and spirit of the 3-Day into something useful and effective.
To do that, Amberlea and her VLC friends started raising community awareness by visiting college campuses, talking about breast self-exams, and getting the word out about the importance of early detection. Before Amberlea knew it, VLC was alive and growing. VLC's first official awareness event was at Janis Landing in the fall of 2002. At that event, VLC was joined by Sue Zelenko and local ABC television affiliate Tampa's Bay’s 10. From there it was on to downtown Tampa and wherever the Chicas felt they could spread the word effectively.
VLC soon realized there was a need for more education and more awareness and that our community needed more support services. VLC members were connecting people to programs and networking for the under-insured. We saw more and more people we knew being diagnosed with cancer and struggling to make ends meet while going through treatment. Thus, VLC began to focus and expand its community work.
In 2006, VLC became a recognized 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Since then, VLC has touched the community in new, exciting, and thoughtful ways. We’ve reached out to families in crisis by providing basic services such as laundry and meals. We’ve arranged transportation for children to and from school. We granted a patient’s wish to shop at a local department store by bringing the store to her bedside. We hope to continue to expand this part of our service to the community in the coming years.
We’ve broadened our horizons as well, attending conferences such as the Annie Appleseed Complimentary and Alternative Medicine for Cancer conference and the NBCC Annual Advocacy Conference. Our members have had to opportunity to speak to our nation’s leaders about the legislation that is imperative to finding a cure.
As our membership grows and our volunteer base expands, we will be able to touch the lives of so many more women and families that are battling breast cancer.
