Houston, TX -- (SBWIRE) -- 12/18/2015 -- Jump For The Rose (JFTR) today presented The Rose breast cancer clinic with a check for $17,865.00 at the clinic's annual holiday party. With that donation, the Houston-based group of skydiving enthusiasts has surpassed $100,000 in total funds raised for the clinic, which provides screening, diagnostic and treatment to breast cancer patients regardless of their insurance status or ability to pay.

The bulk of JFTR's 2015 donation was raised at the 6th annual JFTR PinkFest Mini Boogie, a weekend of skydiving held at Skydive Spaceland in Rosharon, Texas on September 12 and 13 of this year. The event was featured in the November, 2015 issue of the United States Parachute Association's Parachutist magazine.

"Thanks to everyone who supported Jump For The Rose this year and from the start. You made a difference and saved lives. Skydive, Have Fun, Give Back!" said JFTR founder Marian Sparks. Sparks, 60, is a breast cancer survivor and avid skydiver. Sparks was referred to The Rose in 2009 when she was newly divorced, uninsured, and had just received the cancer diagnosis. "The Rose saved my life. They were there for me during my darkest hour," says Sparks. "During my treatment, I told them I was going to make it my mission to help The Rose help other women like me."

Sparks explains the part that skydiving played in her recovery and in her continued good health: "Skydiving empowers you. It gives you strength. It makes you feel wonderful. When the parachute opens, you are floating...Skydiving taught me that I'm a strong person...that if I can jump out of a plane, I can do anything!" Sparks now has more than 2,000 skydives under her belt, and holds several Texas and United States skydiving records.

In 2016, Sparks plans to hold fundraisers outside the Houston area, at several drop zones around the United States. "The skydiving community is wonderful...people are very giving," Sparks explains.

About The Rose
The Rose clinic's mission is to reduce deaths from breast cancer by providing screening, diagnostics and access to treatment for all women regardless of their ability to pay. The Rose offers advanced breast cancer screening and diagnostic services including mammograms, ultrasounds, biopsies and access to treatment to more than 35,000 women in the Houston area annually. Since its launch in 1986, The Rose has served nearly 500,000 patients and is now the leading non-profit breast health care organization in southeast Texas.

For more information, visit www.the-rose.org.

About Jump For The Rose
Founded by breast cancer survivor and avid skydiver Marian Sparks, Jump for the Rose (JFTR) is a grassroots skydiving organization dedicated to raising funds for The Rose, a Houston-area breast cancer clinic. In its brief history, the group has helped participate in several women's Texas state skydiving records, two national women's sequential skydiving records, and earned a men's and a women's world records.

For more information, visit www.jumpfortherose.org.

About Marian Sparks
Marian Sparks, 60, founded Jump For The Rose to help raise funds for The Rose, a non-profit breast health clinic that diagnosed and treated her breast cancer when she was newly divorced and without insurance. Sparks has been featured in two advertising campaigns for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, one of the organizations that supports The Rose's programs.

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