STRATEGY #48

September is Childhood Cancer Awareness Month and September 13 is Childhood Cancer Awareness Day

Here are some things you can do this month (and ALL YEAR ROUND, for the most part!) to support Childhood Cancer Awareness. None of these things involves any financial burden of any kind (except for eating at Chili's ... but hey, ya gotta eat right??)

• Tell everyone you know (and even those you don't know) how you, or someone you love, has been touched by childhood cancer.
  
  
• Donate blood: givelife.org
  
  
• Dine at Chili’s on their "CreateAPepper" Day, when they will donate 100% of profits from restaurant sales to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital: createapepper.com
  
  
• WEAR GOLD FOR THE KIDS: cafepress.com/teamunite
  
  
• Register to become a bone marrow donor: marrow.org
  
  
• Offer to volunteer at a local childhood cancer center.
  
  
• Join Team Unite to become part of a unified voice against childhood cancer: teamunite.net
  
  
• Join People Against Childhood Cancer (PAC2) to learn of efforts being made around the country to find a cure, raise awareness, and lend support: curechildhoodcancer.ning.com
  
  
• Let a family that's been touched by childhood cancer know you STILL CARE and haven't forgotten about their struggles.
  
  
• Let a family of an angel know their child remains in your heart.
  
  
• Sign the CURE CHILDHOOD CANCER petition (and ask your friends and family to sign, as well!): thepetitionsite.com/1/CureChildhoodCancer

Download a poster version of this list! Click image at right for details.

1. Please continue the on-going campaign to call, write, email, fax and visit as many people as possible. Please continue submitting stories to local and national media and continue reaching out to the celebrity community. 

2. If you have not done so already, please join us on Facebook and get others to do this as well. Post your pictures and videos and feel free to post information about fundraisers you are supporting or any news in your local market relating to the childhood cancer community. This enables us to post news in a more timely fashion as well, so please be sure to post any breaking news or information that you’d like to share with our Facebook community. Please also contribute to our information bank through our Team Unite Message Board/Forum. This area of our site where individuals can post prayer requests or resources and information that has been helpful to them on their journey.

3. CHILDHOOD AWARENESS MONTH – SEPTEMBER & CHILDHOOD CANCER AWARENESS DAY – SEPTEMBER 13TH, 2010

First held in 1983, this conference helps educate those who care for children with life-threatening conditions and their families about the latest trends in the field and provides real-world examples of innovative approaches to pediatric curative, palliative and hospice care.

"Thanks for bringing some healing into the medical community. The Congress helped me feel like I had an avenue to bring my personal experience and beliefs into mainstream medical care. Wow, what powerful stuff. I now have some hope."

-MIKE MARCOTTE, MD, TOLEDO, OH

For more information, visit http://www.chionline.org/

Reach The Day

By Rebecca Wright
(Team Kieran)

I made my first visit to “Curesearch Reach the Day” this past June 20-21, having been invited to speak at the opening session because of a guest column that I wrote for our local newspaper.  Wow – I am really glad that I attended, because it was a very enlightening experience.

Outside of networking and meeting so many people that we knew only “online,” the most important thing that we did was to visit Congressional offices to plead our cause.  Having lived my entire life in Virginia, I wasn’t particularly awed about going to DC – We go there all the time!  But walking the halls of the Congressional office buildings, I must admit that I was impressed and felt empowered.  Whatever your political persuasion, we DO have a say in our government.

For anyone who doesn’t know the goal of Curesearch – It’s two-fold.  First is a grass-roots effort to get Congress to approve funding for the Caroline Pryce Walker Cure Childhood Cancer Act of 2008.  Many of us bombarded our Congressmen with letters and emails in support of this act, which passed unanimously, with not one single member of Congress voting against it.  FUNDING, though, has been a different story.  Although we were promised $30 million a year for five years for research, less than $5 million was appropriated last year.

The other goal of Curesearch is to get so many different foundations under the same “umbrella” so that the money we raise will go to the230+ hospitals in the Children’s Oncology Group that are dedicated to finding cures for pediatric cancer.  I know that we all have our particular charities that we support – Mine is the Band of Parents to Fight Neuroblastoma at Memorial Sloan-Kettering in NYC  --  but we have to be sure that the money we raise and donate is going to the hospitals that advance the cause that we ALL support.  I remain convinced in my soul that finding a cure for ONE pediatric cancer will mean finding a cure for ALL of them.

There is much that WE can do to make Curesearch more effective.  Mainly, we need people to get involved!  There is nothing more powerful than personal stories that highlight our needs, and there IS strength in numbers.  At each of our office visits, we said, “This is why we are here.  Here are our stories.  This is what we need for you to do.”

I suppose that because of convenience, there were lots of us from the Mid-Atlantic in attendance, which meant five visits per group.  Other state representatives needed to make 10-12 visits in one day, and some states were not represented at all.  We can’t have that.  Our kids deserve more.

Visit www.curesearch.org and read what they are trying to do.  It’s what we ALL are trying to do.  And I have a guest room, if anyone needs lodging!!!!

Rebecca Wright addresses the opening session of Curesearch "Reach the Day" in Washington, D.C.

Curesearch volunteers from Virginia discuss the need for funding with the legislative representative of Senator Mark Warner.

Team Unite in American Way Magazine!

Thanks to American Airlines' American Way Magazine for featuring Team Unite in the upcoming September issue! Team Unite members from Team Ben B, Team Jessica R and Team Henry T will have a spot in American Way Magazine starting on September 1st.  Thank you to Team Ben for making this happen! We will be sharing the article in a future update.