This October, Ventnor’s business community is turning pink — together. VBA Goes Pink is a new citywide campaign from the Ventnor Business Association, uniting shops, restaurants, and service businesses behind Living Beyond Breast Cancer, a national nonprofit headquartered just up the road in Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania.
Participation is voluntary, there is no minimum donation, and there is no required event. A business can give a flat amount, donate a slice of a day’s sales, or simply put a QR code by the register. That’s the entire ask.
The Member Behind It
The campaign was brought to the VBA by Caitlin Kaspar, one of the owners of Ship Shop Bait & Tackle on North Dorset Avenue. Caitlin is a young breast cancer survivor and an alumna of Living Beyond Breast Cancer’s Young Advocate program.
That program isn’t ceremonial. LBBC trains people diagnosed with breast cancer before age 45 to carry the work back into their own communities — and asks each advocate to complete real outreach within the year that follows. VBA Goes Pink is exactly that: a survivor turning her own experience into something her whole business district can stand behind.
“Every business can participate in a way that fits its size, budget, and customer base.”
Caitlin Kaspar, Ship Shop Bait & Tackle
Three Ways to Take Part
Where the Money Goes
Living Beyond Breast Cancer was founded in 1991 by radiation oncologist Dr. Marisa Weiss, who ran it out of her house with volunteers before it grew into a national organization. Jean A. Sachs has led it since 1996. It is a 501(c)(3) based at 40 Monument Road in Bala Cynwyd — roughly an hour from Ventnor — and it operates on the premise that there is more than one way to have breast cancer.
For the skeptics — and there should always be a few when money changes hands — LBBC has held a four-star rating from Charity Navigator every year since 2005, a run achieved by fewer than one percent of American charities. It also carries a Platinum Seal of Transparency from Candid and accreditation through the Better Business Bureau. Its federal EIN is 23-2734689, which any business can verify before writing a check.
The ribbon wasn’t pink to begin with. In 1991, a breast cancer survivor named Charlotte Haley began handing out peach-colored ribbons at supermarkets with a card urging people to push for more research funding. She made them at her kitchen table. That same year, on the other side of the country, Living Beyond Breast Cancer was founded. The ribbon went pink shortly after — and October has belonged to it ever since.
Ventnor is a town of small operators — one-location shops, family kitchens, people who open the door themselves at six in the morning. A campaign with a fundraising minimum would have quietly excluded half of them. This one doesn’t. A bait shop, a salon, and a law office can all show up in October at whatever size they actually are, and it still counts. That is a very Ventnor way to do a good thing.
How Your Business Can Join
Contact Caitlin Kaspar directly. She’s offered to answer questions and help brainstorm an approach that fits your shop — including businesses that want to learn more about LBBC before committing to anything.
Learn more about the organization at lbbc.org • More on the association at visitventnor.com
Michael DeLuca • Ventnor Business Association • October 2026
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