Wednesday, October 7, 2009
{The Blue Banner}
Page 8
Tattoo shop funds breast cancer research
By Alex Hammond
Staff Writer
RAHAMMON@UNCA.EDU
“Tits and Tats” might sound vul
gar, but that’s part of what the own
ers of Freaks and Geeks Tattoo Side
show are counting on.
It is an event name glorifying per
manent body art and financial aid to
breat cancer research.
“My impression is, with a name
like that, there’s no embarassment,”
said Galen Holland, co-owner of the
parlor. “You have to have a bright
outlook.”
“Tits and Tats” is a fundraising
event that lasts all of October. Ac
cording to Holland, since October
is national breast cancer awareness
month, $5 of each tattoo purchased
at Freaks and Geeks will go to the
Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
Then, on Oct. 18, the only tattoos
given will be pink ribbon tattoos, he
said.
“On the 18th, the ribbon tattoos are
$35, and all of it goes
to the Breast Cancer
Research Founda
tion,” he said. “It’s
going to be first
come first served.”
An area body
piercing artist, Daron
James, will provide
piercings for $15 as
well, Holland said.
“Hopefully it’ll be a good day,
said.
The inspiration for the fundraiser
came from a similar fundraiser a
motorcycle club held, Holland said.
“By bringing awareness of it to an
other culture, we thought we could
get in the younger crowd and the hip
crowd. We also like to do things for
nonprofits,” Tiffany Leach said.
Leach is the founder and co-owner
of Freaks and Geeks.
She said breast cancer awareness
is one of many issues the parlor
Galen Holland
he
cares about.
Leach was the driving force in the
parlor to do a fundraiser, Holland
said.
“I’ve had several clients that are
breast cancer survivors, and recently
I had one that really touched me,”
Leach said.
That touching survivor had an
emergency double mastectomy,
Leach said, which made the tattoo
ing difficult.
“I had to work with her doctor,”
she said. “There were only certain
areas we could tattoo.”
Leach said the client, who was an
older woman, was getting a tattoo
for the first time in her life.
“She said that she wanted the tat
too because she was tired of looking
at her chest and feeling ugly,” Leach
said. “She said that now she can
look at her chest and see something
beautiful. It’s kind of like a badge of
honor.”
According to Holland, the im
promptu nature of the fundraiser
means they don’t have an official
agreement with their charity, the
Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
“We’re just going to cut them a
check,” Holland said.
Because of this, the Breast Can
cer Research Foundation could not
comment on the event. According
to their communications director,
Anna DeLuca, it’s official policy to
protect the organization.
“You have to kind of dig through
and find the good ones,” Leach said
of charities.
She also said she thinks the Breast
Cancer Research Foundation is
one of the good ones. According to
Leach, out of every dollar donated
to the organization, 85 cents goes to
research.
“Out of all the foundations, they
give the largest percentage,” she
said.
Holland said the fundraiser was a
natural extension of the trends he’s
Ian Hayes - Staff Photographer
Tiffany Leach, co-owner of Freaks and Geeks Tattoo Sideshow, draws
a tattoo on January Carter’s arm. Freaks and Geeks donates $5 per
tattoo to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation this month.
“By bringing
breast cancer
awareness to an
other culture, we
thought we could
reach the young
and hip crowd. We
also like to help
nonprofits.”
- Tiffany Leach
seen in business with the economy’s
downturn.
“We’ve noticed a difference in the
amount people are spending,” he
said. “Business hasn’t drastically
changed. Where people might have
taken a family vacation, it’s now
guilty little pleasures,” he said.
So, why not follow the trend and
do a lot of smaller tattoos for a fund
raiser, Holland said.
“At around this size in a relatively
easy place, it should only take 30 to
40 minutes,” he said. “But Tiffany
and Gabe are faster.”
Gabe is the third artist at the par
lor. Leach said the word is getting
out quickly.
“We’ve had a really good response
so far,” she said. “We’ve already
had, I would say, 20 or 30 people (in
terested) and it’s just been advertised
since the first.”
“A friend of mine is coming in to
get a piece done, and she just fin
ished chemo,” Holland said.
The largest response is from one
group, Leach said.
“We have one girl who’s bringing
10 herself,” she said. “They were all
gung-ho about it.”