TATTOOS FOR A CAUSE

In observance of Breast Cancer Awareness month, Eternal Ink Tattoo Studio in Hecker, gave customers free tattoos.

For three days last week, tattoo artist Eric Catalano gave breast cancer ribbon tattoos to anyone who wanted one.

This is the third year Catalano has donated his time and his talent to bring awareness to the cause of breast cancer.

When asked why he started this annual event Catalano stated " I once had a customer who told me a sad story about their family member who died of breast cancer. I thought to myself how could I give back to the community and support the cause of breast cancer awareness. I decided to provide free breast cancer ribbon tattoos to anyone who came into the shop during the days we had set aside for it."

Catalano said tattoo artists always seem to get a bad rap, and I wanted to give back to the community and show that tattoo artists are good people and do good for the community.

Andrea Valleroy-Grau of Walsh came into the shop to get one, which happened to be her first tattoo ever.

"My friend, Lesa Balsom of Sparta, told me about the event and because I had family members affected by the disease I decided to come here to get one," Valleroy stated.

Catalano said he spread the word of the free tattoos through his website eternalinktattoostudio.com and through the shop's Facebook page.

"People were lined up around the building waiting to get their tattoos done," Catalano stated. "Each tattoo took about 5 minutes," he added.

When asked how far someone came to get a tattoo for the cause he stated "This lady, who had a friend in the area, flew in all the way from England to get one."

At the end of this year's annual event Catalano said he gave over 500 tattoos.

Catalano said he will continue to perform this service every October in support of the cause.

To date, he has given over 1,200 free breast cancer ribbon tattoos during these annual events.