It’s 5 a.m. and I’ve just met Errin Dean to watch/participate in her morning Shaun T “Insanity” workout.
I’m caffeinated but still not fully awake, and I’m wholeheartedly dreading the workout to come. But all that changes when I amble in and encounter Dean’s exuberant personality. Wearing a blue tank top, shorts and athletic shoes with her brunette hair in a ponytail, Dean, who is a lean 5’9”, is all smiles at this ungodly hour. She scoops me into a hug and introduces me to the group.
I laugh to myself as I meet her three gym partners. Maintaining our vow of cover story secrecy, Dean has kept my identity under wraps, only telling her partners she invited a guest to check out the Insanity. She directs me to take a spot anywhere on the basketball court, and hands me a bottle of water. It has a pink label, and upon closer inspection I see that it is a Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure water. This is not surprising to me in the least.
For the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure Arkansas, Dean is a board member, sponsorship chairman and a task force member whose focus is on the counties in Arkansas that do not have fixed mammography. A mother to two —Woodrow Hamilton Dean, 7, and Caroline Kelli Dean, 5 — Dean doesn’t technically work outside the home, but she may as well. She’s recently been issued business cards by the foundation because of all the work she does. “I am constantly running around town raising funds for them,” she said. “The Race chair this year, Donna Easley, just nicknamed me ‘sponsorship czar.’ I am rarely home because of my volunteer activities. Most days feel like I have a job.”
Dean first got involved with the race in 1999, when she ran it on her September 25 wedding day. Yes, you read correctly. “I ran it in honor of my sister, Kelli Binsky,” Dean said. Binsky, who had been diagnosed with breast cancer when she was only 32, had flown in from California for Dean’s wedding. “She couldn’t be in the wedding because she was too ill,” said Dean, “but she was at the finish line as I crossed, and I got to run into her arms. It is one of the best moments of my life.”
The sisters were featured on an October 2000 episode of “The Oprah Winfrey Show” (Oprah’s Angels), which focused on young breast cancer survivors and the individuals who support them. Sadly, Binsky passed away in August 2003, at the age of 37, leaving behind a five-year-old son and her loving family. Since that time, Dean has run in her memory and to raise money to help find a cure.
But she doesn’t only run in the annual Race for the Cure. This former college tennis player (4.5 rated, for all you tennis buffs) also has 14 full marathons to her credit and countless halves. She started running marathons after she married her husband, David, a cardiothoracic surgeon whom she met while working at Baptist Health as a scrub technician. All they saw of each other in the beginning were their eyes, sneaking glances at each other over their surgical masks.
In addition to running, she plays tennis one day of the weekend, lifts weights at least three times a week and does an abdominal routine four to five times a week. She also rides bikes and swims whenever she can. “Exercise is just part of my daily life, and I try to push myself to the limit most days,” she said. “I start my mornings with exercise, and running has always been a special time for me. I pray while I run, and I have met some wonderful friends through the years.”
Needless to say, heart health is also at the top of Dean’s list. She just finished serving on the executive leadership committee for the Go Red for Women lunch, and last year, she was the silent auction chair for the event. “This is very near and dear to my heart,” she said. “I recently lost my grandmother to congestive heart failure, and last year my mom suffered an aortic dissection (her aorta tore in half). She is alive and well, and every doctor will tell you that is a pure miracle. Not many people live after what she has been through. Volunteering with the American Heart Association is a perfect way to say thank you for the knowledge, care and concern she received during her recovery. She was also diagnosed with lung cancer shortly after the dissection, and she survived that too. I have never met a stronger woman, and I can only hope I have some of her drive.”
Dean has clearly been through some tough times, but she doesn’t let it affect her attitude. She’s a tireless volunteer who’s an asset to any organization she joins. And the list is long. In total, she volunteers for about 10 different organizations while balancing being a wife to David and a mother to her two young children. “Each day is planned out,” she said, “but it is determined by who needs what the most.”
One of her newest projects is serving as board member and sponsorship chair for the new nonprofit Argenta Community Theater, the brainchild of Judy Tenenbaum and Vincent Insalaco. According to Dean, the 200-seat black box theater will serve to advance the performing arts in central Arkansas. “The mission and goals of the theater are what inspire me the most,” said Dean. “We want to build a scholarship program for public school students to attend college or vocational school. We will also provide student internships and work with local schools so students may receive academic credit for working on a play or children’s summer theater camp.”
She and her husband are also gearing up to chair the 2011 Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Opus Ball. The couple served as live auction chairmen in 2008, and she served on the silent auction committee in 2009. “We both love music and appreciate what this organization provides for our state. We have met some wonderful friends, and we look forward to enjoying the work of Phillip Mann.”
As for young women who would like to get involved in volunteering, Dean can lend some advice. “You must dedicate your time to something you are passionate about—whether it’s women’s health, children, education, special needs…wherever you feel led. If you are seeking the next volunteer opportunity, you don’t have to look far. Arkansas is filled with wonderful causes that need more women,” she said. “You must realize that all it takes is time, energy and passion. We all have a special gift that can be put to use.”