In the month of October, the color pink takes on a special meaning: It’s a symbol of awareness about breast cancer, which affects 1 in 8 women during their lifetime.

On Oct. 11 — the second Wednesday in October — UFT members across the city wore pink to work to celebrate survivors, pay tribute to loved ones and colleagues they have lost, and emphasize the importance of early detection and treatment.

Stephanie Dibella, the chapter leader of PS 52 on Staten Island, organized a pink day at her school to honor six staff members in her building who have battled breast cancer. “We’re looking for something good to come out of this,” she said. “It’s a celebration of their determination.”

Jonathan Fickies

Members from PS 182 in Manhattan stand ready to take on breast cancer.

For survivors like PS 52 school secretary Maria Fontanez, who just completed surgery and radiation to treat her second occurrence of breast cancer, seeing her fellow educators come together to wear pink means a lot.

“It’s amazing to have such great co-workers,” she said. “I don’t even call them my co-workers, I call them my family.”

Staff members at the Ezra Jack Keats Pre-K Center in Kew Gardens, Queens, organize a pink day every year in support of a colleague who is a survivor and those with family members who are enduring the grueling treatment regime.

Jonathan Fickies

Members from PS 119 in the Bronx wear their pink well.

This year breast cancer hit particularly close to home: The mother of two of their pre-K students recently died of the disease.

“It was hard,” says Chapter Leader Medina Mitchell Forbes. ‘We’re a family here. We loved her, and we love her sons. We’re very close. We come together to honor that.”