Bosom Buddies founder retires after three decades of community service

Posted on August 2, 2018 By Editor Articles, Neighborhood News

Bobbi Hanks

After strolling down a pink carpet and perusing a “memory lane” of photos at the Women’s Center of Jacksonville, Bobbi de Cordova-Hanks greeted guests at her June 25 retirement party from Bosom Buddies of Jacksonville, a breast cancer support group she founded in 1988.

A three-time cancer survivor herself, Hanks was surrounded by current and former Bosom Buddies, along with friends and family, who toasted her many accomplishments.

“Bobbi has been a foundation of this community of women for 30 years, an advocate of women,” said Maureen St. John. “As someone who is multi-cultural, Bobbi can deal with people on any scale.”

Teresa Miles, executive director for the Women’s Center, spoke about how Bosom Buddies works within the Colcord Avenue nonprofit.

“Women who had faced tremendous, significant issues with their health needed something that was not necessarily fulfilled in the medical community at that time,” said Miles. “Hospitals can’t necessarily replicate what Bobbi has brought to these individuals who come here on Monday evenings. The greatest challenge for us in losing Bobbi is to lose something we can’t replicate. You can’t make another Bobbi,” she said.

Hanks said she looked at a lot of nonprofits in the city for a safe place to hang their hats and “flip their wigs off. I’m so grateful to the Women’s Center and taking us in and letting us be part of the family.

“It’s been such an incredible journey to meet all these women filled with love, courage, hope,” she continued. “We’re not sitting there saying ‘Oh, poor me, I’ve got cancer.’ We’re getting on with life. They’ve given me so much love over the last 30 years and I’ve never regretted a minute of it.”

Hanks’s husband of 36 years, Jerald, was her caregiver during her treatments, beginning with her first diagnosis of breast cancer in 1986. She founded Bosom Buddies after deciding no woman should ever face breast cancer alone. The nonprofit is now one of the most comprehensive breast cancer programs in Northeast Florida, offering support, advocacy and education.

Eileen Rodden, program coordinator and elder advocate at the Women’s Center, presented Hanks with an etched plaque, commemorating her three decades of service to women.