Charlotte's Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure is next week, and organizers hope to dodge a recent trend. Other cities have taken big hits with their Race for the Cure this year following the national flap over Komen's ending (and quickly restoring) funding for Planned Parenthood. Raleigh and Winston-Salem, for example, were each down 35 to 40 percent, Komen officials in Charlotte say.
That has Komen officials in Charlotte working overtime to avoid the same fate. The Charlotte affiliate raised about $1.6 million with last year's race, which was about two-thirds of its total revenue for the year. So any backlash could undercut Komen's ability to make grants for free mammograms and other services related to fighting breast cancer.
Lori Vaccaro, the executive director of Komen in Charlotte, said she has heard from folks with opposite viewpoints who have stopped supporting Komen because of the Planned Parenthood episode. Even so, race registrations so far are on track to meet last year. "Flat is the new up," Vaccaro says.
In February, Komen's national office waded into politics and sparked a furor by announcing it would stop making grants to Planned Parenthood. Anti-abortion advocates were thrilled, but an outcry from Planned Parenthood supporters, including among Komen affiliates, prompted Komen to reverse its decision. The whole affair ended up alienating some people on both sides of the abortion issue.
Vaccaro emphasized to the Observer editorial board this week that Komen and its Charlotte affiliate are focused on a singular mission: Fighting breast cancer. "We're not pro-life or pro-choice, we're not Democrat or Republican." She said it was a mistake to let Komen's mission to battle breast cancer become politicized.
It was indeed, and it would be a shame if it took a bite out of the Charlotte affiliate. The group says it spends 16 to 18 percent of its revenue on local administrative costs. The rest goes to community health grants ($1.4 million last year) and breast cancer research ($550,000). Its work saves lives, and with one in eight women being diagnosed with breast cancer, one misstep by the national office shouldn't distract from that vital work.
The race, which last year attracted 17,000 people, is next Saturday, Oct. 6, starting in Marshall Park uptown. For more information, go to http://www.komencharlotte.org/.
-- Taylor Batten
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Will Planned Parenthood flap hurt Race for the Cure?
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5 comments:
Let me say up front what my beliefs are on some of these issues. I believe life begins at conception, and therefore, abortion, at any point in the pregnancy, is murder.
I also believe that legislating morality is dangerous. In a country that supports freedom of religion and freedom of expression, making the tenants of 1 religion the law violates those freedoms. So I do not believe in outlawing abortions.
I also believe in limited government. While I do not believe abortion should be legal, I also do not believe it should be government-funded (I believe most things that are government-funded should not be government-funded).
I also believe that Planned Parenthood might have been a good idea at its founding, but it has lost its way. Rather than simply being an avenue for women to avoid or terminate unwanted pregnancies, it has become a far-left, lunatic fringe arm of the Democrat Party. They don't just help avoid unwanted births. They get in the face of anyone who dares oppose anything they say and berate and demonize those opponents. While being protected by the freedom of religion themselves, they demand the freedom of religion of others be dismissed and be forced to carry the products they endorse (the whole Catholic-based businesses should be forced to offer contraceptives in their insurance even though that violates the religious beliefs of Catholics). The leaders of Planned Parenthood now have absolutely no regard for any belief or policy that is not their own. They don't just offer an avenue for abortions, they are pushing and selling them.
Now, for the question I asked in February, that no liberal person or organization has bothered to address: What does Komen and cancer research, treatment and prevention have in common with Planned Parenthood and their "LOVE ABORTIONS OR YOU ARE EVIL" mess? I have no problem with people who want to stop giving money to Komen because Komen says on one hand that all the money donated goes to cancer, and then turns around and gives some of it to support the causes of complete losers like Sandra Fluke.
to J@2:06PM.
Based on your blog profile, I expected a better researched response. Instead, we get the same, lazy attack on Planned Parenthood. A simple search would have given you the answer to your question and provided you with the complete background of Planned Parenthood.
With such a lazy, angry attack, it's no wonder the Race for the Cure is losing participants.
So long as Komen donates one cent to Planned Parenthood, they will not get a dime from me.
Whether you’ve raced, walked, strolled or slept in for Komen Charlotte’s Race for the Cure, you’ve contributed to Carolina-bred successes in the evolution of this disease. As the husband of a survivor and friend of some who didn’t make it, I thank you.
You’ve funded community health grants to area organizations that provide mammograms and breast health information to low-income, uninsured women and men. Right now, thanks to your generosity, 27 Komen Charlotte grantees are doing this work in nine counties with the record $1.4 million we awarded this spring. Every year, 75 percent of our net income is awarded to local non-profits saving local lives via such grants.
You’ve funded breast cancer research, including notable projects underway in North Carolina. Today, scientists have 35 Komen-sponsored projects totaling more than $15 million under the microscope at UNC-Chapel Hill, Duke University and Wake Forest.
One of our enemy’s particularly villainous forms is called Triple-Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC), which accounts for 15-20 percent of breast cancer cases per year and frequently attacks young African-American and Hispanic women. Komen-sponsored researchers at Duke and Wake Forest are stalking this bad actor.
This summer, research on a drug called T-DM1 made major news with reports showing it slowed progression of metastatic HER-2+, a type that accounts for about 25 percent of breast cancer cases. The drug had fewer side effects than others and represented a step toward more effective personalized treatment.
Every year, 25 percent of Komen Charlotte’s net income supports breast cancer research. Last year, this amounted to $550,000. With every Affiliate contributing the same percentage, it means a huge sum available annually for new projects throughout the world.
Because of the high caliber of research institutions in North Carolina, millions of dollars flow back here to continue the assault on breast cancer. Odds could be good that at least one of the cures to this complex disease may be found in our own back yard.
In recent years, Komen research has focused on projects that move as fast as possible from the lab to bedside because the need for prevention, treatment and cures remains urgent. One out of eight women gets breast cancer. Every 69 seconds a woman dies of breast cancer.
Komen Charlotte research shows similar urgency. From our 2011 Community Profile about breast cancer in our nine-county service area, we know that:
• 38 percent of women age 40 and over have not had a mammogram in the last 12 months.
• Stanly County has the highest annual breast cancer mortality rate at nearly 31 deaths per 100,000 women.
• Rowan and Gaston counties are close behind at about 28 and 27 deaths per 100,000 women, respectively. To provide perspective, the NC rate is about 23 per 100,000; in SC, it’s about 25.
• Mecklenburg has the highest percentage of breast cancer cases diagnosed late (Stage IV), followed by York and Rowan.
As one Komen researcher memorably said, “Breast cancer is a boarding house where criminals hang out. Some are petty thieves, some are killers.”
Thanks to your contributions to Komen Charlotte, we’ve identified the killers and we’re closer to snuffing them out. We need to keep them on the run and we need to support Komen Charlotte's Race for the Cure.
Planned Parenthood doesn't give a rats ass about a $25 mammogram. They earn all the big buck from all the abortions they perform. Look it up. It's clear to see that the companies money maker is abortions. Plain and simple. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just plain stupid. Not one cent of mine is going to Susan G Komen for that reason alone.
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