Event: Cruisin' for a Cure Type: Open Reason: Fight Prostate Cancer Location: Orange County Fairgrounds Date: 3rd Weekend in Sept.

Cruisin' for a Cure is a cool car show and great organization with lots of cars-over 2000, and all done and over in one day. Recently it has been held at the Orange County Fairgrounds, which provides plenty of room for display and cruising. It is one of the few shows that encourage hot rodders to drive their cars through the show. The fact that the event supports a great cause was cool. You see the Cure they are Cruisin' for is a cure for Prostate Cancer. It is the # 2 killer of men behind heart disease, and last year alone they raised $207,500.00 for the cause. Every year, Debbie Baker, who is the founder and organizer along with Ross Kroenert, makes the rounds and tells every man she meets, "Make sure you get your PSA blood test!". You see besides all the cool cars, and food and entertainment, Debbie has the Drive Against Prostate Cancer Van from Washington D.C. and the physicians and phelbotmists from UCLA Jonnson Cancer center set up their screening rig and test men for prostate cancer right there.

What drives this lady to organize this event using 100's of hours of her personal time to pull this thing together? It's personnel for her, very. You see her husband Jim is a Prostate Cancer survivor. He is a great guy and doing well, but he went through the hell getting answers and treatment. Prostate Cancer is very treatable in early stages, but if you wait or ignore it, you'll be in trouble big time. She is a Lady on a Mission and its clear to anybody that comes in contact with her, that if it were up to her, there wouldn't be another death ever due to Prostate Cancer.

The Goals of the Cruisin' for a Cure show are simple:
1) Raise Funds for Prostate Cancer research-ALL the money raised goes to UCLA Cancer Center
2) Educate men and their families about the danger of Prostate Cancer
3) Provide FREE PSA screening tests for men over 45 years of age.

If you need an excuse to go the Cruisin for a Cure this year, just tell your wife "Honey, if you really love me you'll want me to go. This Car Show could save my life!" Remember September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month which Debbie so diligently worked with others to get this passed through Congress and then finally having President Bush sign the proclamation, thus Cruisin' for a Cure will always be held the Last Saturday of September.