Behind the splashy October event is a foundation quietly paying for women’s mammograms
Before every sleepover, first day of school, or high school party, Sammie Sweeney-Ferrigan would send her high-spirited daughter out the door with the same gentle mandate: “Melissa, you be good, but don’t be too loud.”
And Melissa Morrell—founder of the TEAM SAMMIE Breast Cancer Foundation—always had the same loving retort: “Mom, I promise to be good. But I’m not going to be quiet.”
It’s a very good thing that Morrell’s voice carries, because everyone who hears her story and what her foundation is doing can’t help but raise a glass, put on something pink, and celebrate the act of saving lives. But before we turn up the volume on an inspiring impact, we need to go back in time.
It’s July of 2014. After a courageous six-year fight with stage IV breast cancer, Morrell has lost her mother, Sammie. In the years that followed, this mom of three started asking herself how she could turn grief into purpose and make a bigger difference; after all, she’d worked hard to build an incredible network of families as a sought-after Realtor, and she knew just how generous her community could be.
Related: Photos from 2025’s Bourbon for Boobs
TEAM SAMMIE’S gala for a cause
The lightbulb moment came in 2020, with a fundraising event dreamed up over a drink at NEAT Bourbon Bar on Main Street: Bourbon for Boobs. Every year since then, this fabulous gala has only grown in size, in fun, and in dollars raised to help save lives at Bon Secours St. Francis’ Pearlie Harris Center for Breast Health right here in the Upstate. Through free mammograms, ultrasounds, MRIs, and biopsies, TEAM SAMMIE makes access to vital preventative care possible for women who are uninsured, underinsured, or simply out of options. “If you need us, we’re going to say yes,” Morrell says.
Amanda Yanchus, lead mammographer at the Pearlie Harris Center, sees the impact daily. “It is an amazing experience to take that burden off of someone who is scared, worried, and anxiety-ridden on top of financial burdens,” she says. “It is so nice to be able to help them in some small way.”
In 2024 Morrell ensured her purpose would carry on beyond her own lifetime by cementing TEAM SAMMIE as an enduring force. The organization was granted a 501(c)(3) designation, brought on a board, established bylaws, and bloomed as Morrell’s middle daughter, Hannah, began learning the ropes. “One day I’m going to die,” she says with stark wisdom, “and I don’t want this just to be an event that dies with me.”
That same year, Bon Secours St. Francis surprised the family by hanging a plaque in the Pearlie Harris lobby in Sammie’s honor. It bears her verse: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Ask this torch-bearing, sparkling-pink whirlwind what her mother would make of all this, and Morrell’s sunshine demeanor softens into a quieter sunset tone. “She had so much grace, but so much grit,” reflects the entrepreneur. “She’d be honored. She’d be humbled. She’d get tickled.” And then, quietly: “If I had to choose between her being here or throwing another party, I’d want her here. I don’t want to have to do this. But I made a pledge, and I finish what I start.”
The pledge, in her words: To do anything and everything to raise awareness about breast health, and to get access to the people who don’t have it.
Total impact by the numbers
- 80 | Life-saving biopsies
- 175 | Breast ultrasounds
- 944 | Free community mammograms
- $587,000 | funds raised by TEAM SAMMIE to date
* All totals to date; Provided by Pearlie Harris Center for Breast Health
Three more ways to pitch in
Multiple October TEAM SAMMIE events make it easy to help make an impact:
- Cheers with the ‘Salute to Sammie Happy Hour’ at Halls Chophouse, 10/6-10/7
- Lace up with a Run In Run Club of Greenville event on 10/12
- Dress up with ‘Shop for Sammie at Monkee’s of the West End’ on 10/15
The seventh annual Bourbon for Boobs takes place October 22 at the Foundry at Judson Mill. Follow @teamsammie_b4b for tickets, sponsorships and year-round ways to give.
