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Team WHIP founder Narfunda Ross was one of the guest speakers during the Betty/LaGayle Cancer Foundation’s 10th annual Women’s Empowerment luncheon hosted at Columbus Library this weekend.

The speakers were asked to speak about “It’s Working Together for Our Good,” based on the bible verse, Daniel 3:25. Ross, a breast cancer survivor herself, was one of seven speakers during the luncheon. Each speaker was either a survivor of cancer or a “co-survivor,” a.k.a caretakers and support systems.

She made her speech about “Cranking it up,” it being one’s faith. She said that cancer survivors, and “co-survivors,” can strengthen their faith against cancer.

“Even when the King “cranked” up the heat, the Hebrew boys “cranked” up their faith that they could walk through the fire and come out unharmed,” she said in a Facebook post.

“We can’t just bow down to cancer,” she said. “We’ve got to crank our faith up and go through with faith.”

The Betty/LaGayle Cancer Foundation was founded in honor of LaGayle Autry, who worked as a West Point employee for many years before her diagnosis. Now, her daughter Uconda McCants hosts a luncheon in her honor that serves to empower other breast cancer survivors and caretakers.

This is the first time that Ross has partnered with the foundation but she said she hopes it will not be last. Team WHIP, Working to Help Those In Pink, will be hosting a PINK-Nic event on September 21 at the West Point Pavillion that overlooks the Chattahoochee River. Ross said McCants will be in attendance.

Team WHIP was founded in 2015 as a walk-a-thon in West Point to support breast cancer. However, over the years, the organization has grown to support the local survivor and co-survivor community in many ways.

Team WHIP is hosting support group meetings every second Saturday of the month, which is sponsored by Forge Breast Cancer Survivor Center in Montgomery.

“We are just two ladies out here trying to spread hope in the same area,” Ross said. “We’re trying to go abroad, because we understand how this disease is affecting families and is taking loved ones away.”