On Saturday, October 17, women in Wellington can walk into The Mall at Wellington Green and get a mammogram at no cost. The Promise Fund of Florida is bringing free breast cancer screening to the mall's Pink Party from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., the only Wellington stop on the nonprofit's October screening calendar.

What is happening, and where

The Promise Fund lists the screening day at 10308 Forest Hill Boulevard, on the mall property at the center of Wellington's main commercial corridor. It is timed to Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and it is one of ten free screening days the group has scheduled across Palm Beach, Broward and Martin counties this October, according to its events calendar. The others land in Jupiter, Lake Worth Beach, West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, Stuart, Fort Lauderdale and Hollywood. For anyone living in Wellington, Royal Palm Beach, Loxahatchee Groves or the western communities along State Road 7, the mall date is the one closest to home.

To reserve a spot, the event page directs women to call 561-345-4206 or scan the QR code on the event flyer. Calling ahead is the smart move, since it gets you on the day's schedule before you show up.

Who is behind the Promise Fund

The founder is a name most readers already know. Nancy G. Brinker started what became Susan G. Komen after promising her sister, Susan, who died of the disease, that she would do everything she could to end it. Her Promise Fund biography notes that she later received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 for that work, served as a goodwill ambassador for cancer control with the World Health Organization, and was U.S. Ambassador to Hungary and U.S. Chief of Protocol.

In 2018 she turned her attention to her own backyard. Brinker led the creation of the Promise Fund in Palm Beach County, where the group counts roughly 80,000 women with no insurance and no regular doctor. The organization opened its first Mammography Screening Center in October 2020 and has built its model around reaching women where they already are: churches, community centers, health clinics and, on the 17th, a shopping mall.

How the care works after the screening

A free mammogram is only useful if someone follows up on the result, and that follow-through is the part of the Promise Fund model most people never see. The nonprofit pays for patient navigators who walk each woman through the system, from the first screening to diagnostic imaging, treatment and the end of care, as its mission page lays out. Services include mammograms, Pap smears, clinical breast exams, diagnostics and treatment.

The navigators also handle the problems that quietly keep women from getting checked: rides to appointments, translation, help enrolling in a health plan and financial assistance. The group's request services page is explicit that it serves women regardless of their ability to pay and that patients never receive a bill from the Promise Fund. If a woman is diagnosed, the organization stays with her through the whole course of care rather than handing her off after the scan.

Why this one matters for Wellington

Wellington is better known for its show jumping and polo than for gaps in health care, but the Promise Fund's work is aimed squarely at the women a community like this one tends to overlook: the uninsured worker, the recent arrival, the woman who has been putting off a screening for years because of cost or time. Putting the screening in the mall, rather than in a clinic across the county, removes the two biggest excuses at once.

It is also a good reminder for everyone else. The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends a screening mammogram every two years for women ages 40 to 74 under guidance it finalized in 2024. Plenty of women in that range with good insurance have still let a year or two slip. If that is you, a morning at the mall is an easy way to get back on schedule, and passing the phone number along to a friend, a neighbor or someone who works for you may matter even more.

Make a day of it

October 17 is a big Saturday in Wellington. That afternoon, the Village of Wellington holds its annual Fall Festival at Village Park on Pierson Road from 3 to 10 p.m., with free admission, a one-night Haunted Hallways walk-through, hayrides, laser tag, a petting zoo, costume contests and about 20 food trucks. Activity bracelets cost $7 per child in advance (through October 16) or $10 the day of. Parking at the park is limited, so the village is steering visitors to a free shuttle sponsored by The Mall at Wellington Green, which starts picking up at 2:30 p.m. near the Palm Tran stop by Macy's.

That makes the mall the natural starting point for the whole day: a screening in the morning, lunch, then a shuttle ride over to the festival with the kids. It is hard to think of a lower-effort way to do something that matters.

The details

What: Free mammograms with the Promise Fund of Florida at the Pink Party
When: Saturday, October 17, 2026, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Where: The Mall at Wellington Green, 10308 Forest Hill Boulevard, Wellington
To book: Call 561-345-4206, or the Promise Fund main line at 877-427-7664
Cost: Free, regardless of insurance or ability to pay

The whole point of the Promise Fund is catching breast cancer early, when treatment works best. On the 17th, the only thing standing between a Wellington woman and that early check is a phone call.