With Relay For Life events coming up in your community I wanted to share with you more information on where the money goes that you donate, raise or sponsor.

The American Cancer Society is passionately committed to fighting every cancer and helping every community. We are the largest community-based voluntary health organization in the world, with 3 million dedicated volunteers saving lives from cancer every day.

We are finishing the fight against cancer four ways:

PREVENT: We search for new ways to prevent cancer or find it at its earliest, most treatable stage, and we help people take steps to stay healthy.

• A substantial proportion of cancers could be prevented if people did what we know works: avoiding tobacco, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising, eating a healthy diet, and getting recommended cancer screenings. We spread the word in communities across the country and fight for local, state, and federal policies that help keep us healthy.

• We set the guidelines your doctor uses for early detection and prevention, and we work to promote cancer screenings. For example, it’s our goal to increase colon cancer screening rates to 80 percent by 2018. Make it personal: Add colon cancer screening rates in your area or the story of a personal connection to colon cancer.

CARE: We do the most to help people with cancer, reaching every community.

• Each year, the American Cancer Society helps nearly 1 million people touched by cancer get the help they need, when and where they need it.

• We’re available all day, every day, whenever you need us to provide reliable cancer information that helps patients and families understand their diagnosis and make decisions about treatment. You can reach us online at cancer.org and by phone at 1-800-227-2345.

• We help patients and their families with their most pressing needs and quality of life concerns, including dealing with the symptoms, pain, and stress of cancer and its treatment; navigating the health care system; getting rides or finding lodging; and more. Whatever the need, we can help. Make it personal: Add figures and stories about patient navigation, transportation, and lodging services in your area.

CURE: We find cancer’s causes and cures through groundbreaking research.

• We are the largest private, nonprofit funder of cancer research in the U.S., contributing to nearly every major cancer research breakthrough in recent history.

• We fill a unique need, funding young investigators for new, promising ideas at a crucial time in their careers. Our track record of funding 47 Nobel Prize winners early in their careers demonstrates our ability to identify the best and brightest ideas. Make it personal: Add a story of a cancer survivor whose treatment arose out of Society-funded research, or site local grants.

• We have brought research to our communities: more than a quarter of a million people have joined our Cancer Prevention Study-3, which will give us more insight into cancer than ever before. Make it personal: Add a story about an enrollment event.

• The cancer death rate has dropped by 20 percent since 1991, which represents 1.3 million lives saved, thanks in part to our efforts.

ADVOCATE: We fight cancer as much through public policy as we do in the laboratory.

• Together with our nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action NetworkSM (ACS CAN), we have helped:

• Enact policies that prevent cancer, such as smoke-free laws and others that prevent and curb cigarette smoking.

• Educate lawmakers on policies that provide access to quality and affordable health care, including lifesaving cancer screenings and treatments.

• Encourage increased federal investment in cancer research.

• Make it personal: Tell stories of individuals able to get insurance through the Affordable Care Act, or point to smoke-free establishments in your community.

We are making progress, but we can do more.

Cancer mortality rates in the U.S. have fallen by 20 percent during the past two decades: that’s 400 lives saved from cancer every day. We are working to save 1,000 lives a day domestically and one day 10,000 lives a day worldwide.

Today, 2 out of 3 people diagnosed with cancer survive for five years or more. Our goal is to make that 3 out of 3.

We are putting all of our efforts toward saving more lives, faster. Today we’re focusing on key areas where we know we can make progress quickly. We’re honing in on the biggest cancer killers, where we have proven strategies to help reduce the burden, like tobacco control and colon cancer screening.

The American Cancer Society may not be a publicly traded company but we are publicly held in the hearts and minds of our supporters and constituents. Being a leader in transparency and accountability is very important to us.

We hold ourselves to the highest standards and are as tough on ourselves as we are on cancer.

You can tell the society is spending donor dollars wisely by looking at our results. No other organization can attempt what we continue to accomplish in the fight to end cancer.

We need your help to finish the fight. Get involved in your community by volunteering or participating in an event, like Relay For Life or Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

Join the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network and help make cancer a national priority.

Make a donation to help save more lives faster.

Like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter (@AmericanCancer).

 

For more information, contact LaChona Ferguson, community manager at 740-708-5186 or LaChona.Ferguson@cancer.org.