What happens when you combine an assortment of pink beads, a group of senior adults, and a woman with an exceptionally positive attitude—who, by the way, recently had foot surgery (for the fifth time)?

You get "Bead It," a project to raise awareness and funds toward a cure for breast cancer.

Delores Janet Ware (she prefers "Janet") is the woman behind Bead It. After recent surgery to mend an old foot injury, Ware moved to Village Shalom for seven weeks of physical therapy and rehabilitation. The longtime beading maven and former bead-shop owner brought along some of her supplies to keep occupied, and decided to involve a few other residents of the Overland Park continuing-care retirement community. From that, a series of spontaneous "beading bees" emerged, one part art therapy, one part community building, one part generosity—and all heart.

Ware and her beading buddies fashioned bracelets of decorative pink beads and white alphabet beads spelling out "BEAD IT." The phrase, a take-off of "beat it," refers to beating breast cancer.

"It's really a labor of love," said Ware, "because it's helping women who are undergoing chemotherapy."

Bracelets created by the group are being offered for sale in Village Shalom's gift shop. The $10 raised from each bracelet will be donated to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization for breast cancer awareness.

Ware knows more than she would like to know about the ravages of the disease. Although she has never had breast cancer, she lost an aunt, a sister, and a niece to it. Her twin sister and another niece are survivors of the disease.

But what initially influenced Ware to take up the beaded battle against breast cancer was a friend who helped her to endure tribulations of a different kind in 2004. At the time, Ware lived and owned a bead shop in Richmond, Va. A fire leveled nearly 30 blocks of downtown Richmond, including Ware's store and residence.

Temporarily homeless and jobless, she moved to an apartment building where she befriended a woman named Barbara. Barbara spent much of her time encouraging young women to get mammograms, but had never gotten one herself. When she finally agreed to the procedure, she discovered that she had breast cancer. Ware became Barbara's caregiver for the surgery and chemotherapy that followed.

"That's when I developed the 'Bead It' concept," she said. "There's always someone you can help, and someone who has things worse than you do."

Barbara survived the disease, and Ware continues the fight on behalf of others by making bracelets whenever she can. Since moving to Leawood two years ago to be near her twin sister, she's even contemplating opening another bead shop.

And after her brief time as a resident at Village Shalom, she hopes to return as a volunteer, perhaps in the gift shop. After all, one can't sell too many pink bracelets.

For information on creating a "Bead It" program for a local group or organization, e-mail Ware: Love2BeadWithYa@gmail.com.