Welthy Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 I probably should be posting this in a different catagory, but here goes anyway. This issue seems to raising its head around here lately and maybe we should build on the momentum. Below are some ideas and suggestions to highlight awareness of lung cancer. What are your ideas? Maybe a celebrity spokesperson to back the cause. There just isn't anyone out there with a big name who has survived to speak out, the same way you see breast cancer survivors speaking out. My sister-in-law came up with a great idea. She said that Ellen DeGeneres is pretty outspoken about her struggle with quitting smoking and has again embarked on trying to quit. Given her history and ability to stand up for who she is successfully, do you think she might adopt lung cancer as a spokesperson? I've logged into her website and am writing her to ask for help, but maybe if more people requested her it may help our cause. Just a thought. Secondly, I've begun a letter writing campaign to any companies who are going "PINK" (Ford Motor Co., Safeway (Dominick's Food stores)) this month to ask them what special promotions, etc. they plan on doing in November for Lung Cancer Awareness Month. I point out the disparity in the survivorship rates of breast vs. lung cancer and the high numbers of ALL Americans afflicted by lung cancer. My next goal will be to target AIDS statistics vs. Lung Cancer. In 2004 the Centers for Disease Control reported that the cumulative estimated number of deaths of persons with AID's was 529,113 since the beginning of the epidemic (1987). During this same 17 year period, I conservatively estimate that over 2,500,000 Americans have died from Lung cancer. Hmmmm... quite a shocker. Now, if people with AIDS are able to overcome that stigma and have so much attention focused on research and cures, surely Lung Cancer can overcome it too! But HOW? I know we have some VERY creative people on this board -- one only has to read the witty posts to see that. It is up to those of us on this board to hammer home the point in volume. We can have an impact even from our desks at home via the internet. I firmly believe the LCSC are the largest cohesive numbers. Write and email the President, Senators, Representatives, Corporations, etc. etc. etc. Our voices must be heard. It is the squeaky wheel that gets the grease. I've also sent the Chicago Tribune article to everyone I know asking them to please write their Reps. regarding lack of funding for lung cancer. I've forwarded information on our local walk this Saturday to everyone in our Lung Cancer Support Group that our hospital sponsors. (Sadly, there is not that many people who regularly attend.) Also PLEASE sponsor our Walkers here on this board. And give a big "Thank-you" to the individuals who took the time to have their home state proclaim November as Lung Cancer Awareness month. We need to develop a "mantra" of statistics that can be drilled into the social conscience of America. Maybe a slogan. I'm sure many of these measures have been tried in the past, if so, I'm sorry. Obviously I've been on a bit of a rip lately. (And I didn't drink too much coffee either) Welthy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jyoung20 Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 How about a letter targeting companies that may be willing to promote or help with funding? Someone with really fine writing skills could draft a letter that could be used--we as a group could work on distribution. What do you think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnmynatt Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 I do think we need to stop reinventing the wheel over and over. We need to work together to get the best letter, slogan, email, etc. and have everybody use it at least as a starting point. Several organizations do this, e.g. American Cancer Society, Tobacco Kids, and others. Maybe we could come up with a theme for each day or week in November to keep it at the forefront of various key media organizations, corporations, hospitals, etc. I'm going to try to get media coverage in November donating a DVD player to another chemo facility/facilities. What do you'll think? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welthy Posted October 17, 2006 Author Share Posted October 17, 2006 JYoung, Great idea! Any takers??? Email site for Ford Motor Co: https://secure.ford.com/en/support/emailUs.htm Email site for Safeway Co: http://shop.safeway.com/superstore/defa ... e=corphome Let's keep adding to the email sites for companies currently sponsoring breast cancer promos to push for the same type of support for Lung Cancer. Another thought -- how about 8 1/2 x 11 signs to be distributed to every oncologist's and Doctor's office to promote lung cancer awareness in November. How about posting them on the real-life bulletin boards at the grocery stores? The Lung Cancer alliance has three ads that can be downloaded and printed for hand-outs or posting: http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/pdf_docs/LCA_ad_1.pdf http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/pdf_docs/LCA_ad_2.pdf http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/news/ ... nal_ad.pdf Also, the Lung Cancer Alliance has an on-line petition that you can sign. Awhile ago I downloaded a hard copy and circulated it around to friends, family and neighbors. The website is: http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/ The Chicago Tribune article is located in the Family/Caregivers section under "Lord forgive me...PINK" posting. This can be cut and pasted and emailed to anyone you might want to help raise awareness. Welthy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welthy Posted October 17, 2006 Author Share Posted October 17, 2006 This is the best ad from the Lung Cancer Alliance: http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/press ... CallAd.pdf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RandyW Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 Celebrities With Lung Cancer currently includes Suzanne Pleshette And Benny PArsons who is NED currently and donated 10,000 dollars to his med facility. Every Dollar Counts. As most of you know, I contacted my :Local State Rep who losrt her husband to Lung cancer 5 years ago and with help from The North Carolina Lung association also the opldest in the country have created the North Carolina Lung Cancer awareness License PLate. Available next year. Hwere is a list of the Companies that support Lung Cancer Alliance financially: Donors The Lung Cancer Alliance is profoundly grateful for the donations made by individuals, corporations, foundations and other organizations. Without this financial and in-kind support we simply could not serve our mission of eradicating lung cancer - this most lethal, stigmatized of all the cancers. Thank you for sustaining our patient support programs and enabling our work to raise lung cancer awareness to continue. We would like to express our deepest appreciation to the hundreds of individuals who made contributions in honor of loved one. As a result of your generosity, thousands of dollars of absolutely critical funding support - approximately 1/3 of our overall funding - came to us in this way. We would like to acknowledge the corporations and foundations that have served as partners, providing support to important Lung Cancer Alliance programs and initiatives: Partners American Legacy Foundation AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP Biomira, Inc Bristol-Myers Squibb Company Cell Therapeutics, Inc. Eli Lilly & Company EMD Pharmaceuticals, Inc. G.E. Healthcare Genentech, Inc. Health Policy R&D Millennium Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Motion Picture Association of America Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation OSI Pharmaceutics, Inc. Pfizer Inc. Sanofi-Aventis Willams and Jensen WilmerHale We would also like express our sincere appreciation to the many companies, foundations and organizations which have made donations to the Lung Cancer Alliance during the past year: Organizational Donors A.C. Israel Foundation, Inc. Advanced Surface Technologies Alan Berry Design, Inc. Amy and Barry Baker Family Fund Baker Engineering and Risk Consultants, Inc. Bank of America United Way Campaign Bardeen-Greytak Family Foundation Bay Medical Center Birmingham Country Club Blacks in Government Boy Scout Troop No. 61 Brown Smith Wallace, LLC Buckeye Packaging Co., Inc. Business Services International, Inc. Cave Spring Veterinary Clinic Charlotte and Jospeh Gardner Foundation, Inc. Cleveland Clinic Health System Credit Suisse Denver Area Folk Dancers Disabled American Veterans Distance Education Dept., Univerity of of Nebraska - Omaha Doctors Hospital - Massillon, OH Exeter Assembly Fairfield Emblem Club No. 439 Federation of Rowan College Educators Fleet Ford Yacht Club Fox Chase Cancer Center Frontier Health George Campbell Nisbet Foundation Harris, Brown & Klemer, Inc. Hinden & Sievers, LLP Honors Bridge Club Imclone Systems Incorporated Infectious Diseases Society Of America Institute for International Economics Joseph Marchiano Lung Cancer Research Foundation Judy and Mark Lerner Family Foundation Kappa Sigma Fraternity Kaskaskia College Federation of Teachers Macy's West United Way Campaign Maimonides Medical Center Mark Krueger & Associates, Inc. Merck Partnership for Giving Microsoft Montgomery Country Club Golf Association National Endowment for Democracy Nicole, Michael & Aidan Cadogan Ocean City Golf Club Off the Record Research Order of the Eastern Star Peer Music Prudential Financial Race For Breath Roger Sherman Elementary School Rowan University Department of Theatre Safeco Insurance Schmeltzer, Aptaker & Shepard, PC Sellers Kuykendall Shaw's Market St. John's Mercy Medical Center Sutter Medical Center of Santa Rosa The Arlington Community Foundation The Community Foundation for the National Capital Region The Gates Corporation The Longhill Charitable Foundation, Inc. The Patterson Club The Pleczynski Foundation The Roybal Corporation The Sunshine Club The United Way United Way of Pennsylvania United Way of Elkhart County United Way of Indiana United Way of New York City United Way of Silicon Valley United Way of Los Angeles US Alliance Credit Union Utica National Insurance Group Van Buren Public Schools Vangaurd Charitable Endowment Program Veterinary Clinic, Inc. Volkswagon Credit, Inc. The Washington Post Wednesday Oyster Bay Men's Golf Club Wharton-Smith, Inc. Wilhide Draperies, Inc. Woodworking Machinery Industry Association Privacy | User Agreement | Site Map © Lung Cancer Alliance http://www.lungcanceralliance.org/ Lung Cancer Hotline: 800-298-2436 (US only); 202-463-2080; info@lungcanceralliance.org The information presented in this Website is not intended as a substitute for medical care. Please talk with your healthcare provider about any information you get from this Website. 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Welthy Posted October 17, 2006 Author Share Posted October 17, 2006 Good thought Katie. From what I see, they are mostly an advocacy group providing the following: From the Lung Cancer Alliance website: Our programs include the Lung Cancer Hotline, a toll-free information and referral service for people with lung cancer and their caregivers, the Phone Buddy program, a peer-to-peer support network, Lung Cancer Awareness Month, a national education and advocacy campaign, Spirit & Breath, our quarterly newsletter, and Advocacy Alert, where advocates can receive alerts to participate in or respond to important lung cancer issues. As the only not-for-profit organization dedicated solely to helping lung cancer survivors in the United States, the Lung Cancer Alliance relies on your generous donations. Support from you, the patients, survivors, family members, friends, and healthcare professionals -- makes it possible for us to create and maintain the programs we offer. We treasure our donors. You make it possible for the Lung Cancer Alliance to serve people today and to continue expanding our lung cancer advocacy work. I am not sure, but it looks like most of their money goes to lobbying (a good cause in itself for lung cancer), but not toward research. Does anyone have further information? Disclaimer: I'm not advocating financial support of this group, but I like their advertising style to get the word out. Welthy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Debi Posted October 17, 2006 Share Posted October 17, 2006 I'm not sure about the Lung Cancer Alliance but my money is with LUNGevity at the moment .... I think personally, they are closer to following what I want which is more immediate funding for lung cancer research... Also, its easy to meet on this board which is now part of LUNGevity.... If I can just add a suggestion to the excellent ones above, (one I just received recently in an email which I'm plagarizing)- while its more than important to solicit companies for the cause - please don't forget to use those companies who already sponsor lung cancer, and to tell them how important it is that they are doing so. I am going to risk a personal example here. Not too long ago I complained on the board about a company that I am involved with having a product that donates 10% toward breast cancer research. I posted how it was difficult for me to sit still during the meeting presenting the product.. Well, Ry had asked me if they could donate to the Boston Walk and they did- all I had to do was ask, they are really awesome, and they are shipping between 300-400 cookies. While 300-400 cookies isn't a cure, this is a catalog company that is part of a larger corporation. So basically, while everyone is emailing people, it probably wouldn't hurt to email a quick "thank you for recognizing lung cancer" http://www.cherylandco.com/contact.asp , along with any other companies that you know sponsor lung cancer in any way, shape or form. IF companies see a big email response, they will continue to sponsor lung cancer events, and perhaps even increase their sponsorship when they see that there is a large market out there that they haven't tapped into. In turn, other companies will see that there is money to be made. Oh well, that's my 2 cents!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welthy Posted October 17, 2006 Author Share Posted October 17, 2006 Excellent Debi!!!!! (Looks like more emails for me tonight) I also like the LUNGevity Foundation (Maybe it's a Chicago thing, LUNGevity, Da Bears, etc. ) I refer all of my email recipients to LUNGevity.org for further information on how they can contribute to make a difference in the fight against lung cancer. I was just showing the Lung Cancer Alliance because of their aggresive Washington focused advertising campaign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tnmynatt Posted October 18, 2006 Share Posted October 18, 2006 I personally think these are all excellent ideas and focus. They are all needed for us to further our cause for research and support. Welthy: Would you mind sharing your email content so we can plaugarize from you? What do you'll think about making this thread a sticky so we can keep adding companies, organizations, etc. to it? Thanks and take care. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeckyCW Posted October 19, 2006 Share Posted October 19, 2006 My two cents: I understand the first mention of the Lung Cancer Alliance because of their focus on advocacy. I don't know a lot about them, but I'm sure they're doing good work. I think most advocacy has the ULTIMATE purpose of getting more dollars for research for a cure. Since LCSC has recently merged with LUNGevity, and raising funds for research is their mission, I think we'd be wise to work with them. They probably have the kind of template of statistics, etc. that we're talking about, too. And speaking of working with them... Since they do fundraising, including corporate donors I'm sure, we probably should talk with them about who they're approaching and how we can best help -- and let them know who we're approaching, so they can add their weight to ours. A united approach might make a big difference -- and they may have leads we can build on. Does anyone from LUNGevity's (fundraising) staff read our posts? We're open to that, aren't we? I think it's great that so many companies support breast cancer causes, but like you, I cringe when I see so many of them and none for lung cancer. We may be most successful in targeting companies that are not already committed to another cause in a big way, though. Last, good point, Debi! When someone DOES do something for lung cancer, we need to support them and let them know that people are seeing and appreciating it. Maybe LUNGevity could give us names of companies now and then to thank, too. Welthy, I say go ahead and keep drinking that coffee - I don't think you've had too much yet -- LOL! BeckyCW Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Welthy Posted October 19, 2006 Author Share Posted October 19, 2006 Excellent points Becky. I was hoping that there was some "standard" literature, etc. that could be downloaded from LUNGevity.org, but I don't see any on their site. As long as we are connected with them, I agree that we need to put our heads together and come up with mutual slogans, posters, etc. I hope Katie can help us coordinate with her contacts there. Between the two groups, we could be a force to be reckoned with! My concern right now is getting things out there for November and capitalizing on the pink craze right now. (Of course my PRIMARY concern is looking after Tony!) As for form letters -- I haven't come up with any, I've just been shooting from the hip for each company I've been contacting. The concept of getting our own "fomal" letter to be sent could work with us or against us. It would work for people who don't have the time to put statistics, personal stories, etc. into their own letters, but I could see a disadvantage if everyone sent the same letter that it could be white noise to the receivers. Maybe not -- it's probably worked well for other causes because it is a numbers game. More random, non-coffee related thoughts from... Welthy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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