NORTH TAMPA - A bunch of men in high heels will take center stage Saturday at University Community Hospital for the second annual Heroes ‘N Heels fundraiser to fight breast cancer.

The festivities get under way at 9 a.m. Oct. 10 at the UCH main medical campus at East Fletcher Avenue and Bruce B. Downs Boulevard. This year’s goal is to raise $50,000.

With the economy stuck in pause, many women in the Tampa Bay area are living without health insurance or extra cash to pay for a mammogram screening, UCH spokesman Will Darnell said in a news release.

The consequences are many young women are being diagnosed with late-stage breast cancer, he said

A year ago the state-of-the-art Breast Center at UCH opened and hospital employees wanted to organize a fundraiser to help raise money for women who couldn’t afford mammograms.

The telephone was ringing off the hook from women who heard about the new center but didn’t have the money for a screening, Darnell said. That’s how Heroes ‘N Heels was hatched.

Some male hospital employees and area business executives decided they wanted to do their part. They bought high heels and raised about $40,000 through pledges in the weeks leading up to Heroes ‘N Heels event, Darnell said.

The money allowed hundreds of women to receive free mammogram screenings this past year.

This year some of the hospital’s male executives have gone shopping again in the shoe department. They will show off with footwear during fashion shoots next week.