Our Story

In 2001, a group of friends participated in a cancer walk after a dear friend had been diagnosed with cancer. This walk supported a national organization that is primarily focused on research and finding a cure for cancer.  This eventually led to the planning of our own event in Yates Center in 2003 which was still in support of the national organization. However, we were informed after that year that Yates Center is too small of a town and we could no longer hold this event.  After seeing the participation from over 100 people in Yates Center, we hated to give up the idea of having a walk in Yates Center and traveling to another city to walk. 

After a lot of soul searching and seeing the need for helping people in our own county, we decided to take a leap of faith.

In 2004, the dream of Friends for Life became a reality.

Our quest was not to compete against the organizations raising money for cancer research. These organizations and their efforts are vital and important. However, we felt that the money we raised could be utilized better by the people of Woodson County. We have seen far too many people in our community affected by cancer. Thus, we created Friends for Life, Inc. as a 501c3 non-profit organization with the simple mission of "Friends Helping Friends".

In Woodson County, one of the biggest expenses a cancer patient has is travel cost. We are located in rural southeast Kansas, and traveling to and from treatment can really add up. For this reason, we started out by giving gas cards to patients traveling for treatments. In 2004, we provided around $5,000 in gas cards. This total has more than doubled now, and we have also expanded this to include utility bills, lodging expenses, meals and other various expenses that come up for those fighting cancer. 

Our biggest fundraiser is the Friends for Life Breast Cancer Awareness Walk we hold in October of every year. We write letters to the business people in Yates Center and some from surrounding communities. For $100, they can sponsor the walk and their name appears on the back of all the t-shirts. The sponsorship pays for all of the expenses of the walk. Participants of the walk pay $20 and all of that money goes into a fund that is used for expenses for cancer victims. Every participant receives a t-shirt and a goody bag. The goody bags contain items that are donated by area people and businesses and contain a few items that we purchase with the sponsorship money. 

For our first walk, we had 35 business sponsors and 200 walkers. In 2019, these numbers were up to 156 business sponsors and almost 900 walkers. 

None of this is possible without the support of our community. We can't say enough about how generous members of Woodson County and even surrounding communities have been. The money we raise through the annual walk, donations, and memorials always stays within Woodson County to help our friends and neighbors and we are very proud of that. One major supporter in Yates Center is Birdies and Bluegrass. Birdies and Bluegrass is a non-profit organization that hosts an annual event to benefit Friends for Life. It is donations like these that make our mission possible!

From Co-Founder Jamie Matile:

To me, forming Friends for Life with these ladies is one of the most rewarding things I have ever done. I lost my mother to breast cancer and I know personally what a burden cancer can be to a family both financially and emotionally. It takes work to start up a corporation like this and keep it going but every time we receive a thank you note or a hug from someone we have helped, it doesn’t seem like work at all. From the bottom of my heart, I wish to thank the community for everything they've done to embrace the dream of Friends for Life.