Participation in Saturday's Central Indiana Race for the Cure in downtown Indianapolis dropped about 28 percent from
last year's event, to 27,126, said Dana Curish, executive director of the Central Indiana affiliate of Susan G. Komen
for the Cure.
Last year's race, held on a cold, rainy day, drew 37,450 people. Participation in previous years had been about 42,000.
The race brought in at least $1.7 million through registration fees, sponsorships and donations. That figure could rise as
other donations are counted. Last year's race raised a record of more than $2.6 million.
Given the fallout from Komen's controversial decision around making grants to Planned Parenthood. Curish said she was pleased that this year's numbers were slightly better than she expected. About 600 people signed up on the day of the race.
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I'll reiterate what Tom said. Jill - I don't care what you do with *your* life - so long as you keep it to yourself. I, however, do care very much about the lives of innocents - especially those much too young/old/unable to defend themselves. And, yes, having an abortion affects another persons life - that of the unborn child. So, I guess then, that when your choices infringe on the life of another human, then it is my business and the business of every other person that occupies this world.
But let's take the morality out of this... Our own Declaration of Independence states that all are entitled to LIFE. Are you challenging this?
Back to the present, my position on Komen is not about ending cancer research altogether. It is a matter of changing who I donate to for the sake of the unborn. It is about highlighting an egregious attempt by an organization to funnel funds to another based on a bias towards a cause.
For that reason, my donations will never again go to Komen and I will continue to cheer their downturn - and help it along as much as possible.
So no, I don't care about your personal choices. I do care about Komen, and as such I am not surprised that their funding is plummeting. I would expect other purely breast cancer related fundraising organizations to see an increase in funding. People like me aren't giving up on supporting breast cancer research. We're giving up on Komen, now that we see where our dollars are going.
Komen chooses to give funds to Planned Parenthood, whose #1 revenue source is abortion. Some support abortion, most don't. In either case, it has nothing to do with breast cancer. Interestingly, it has been a medical fact, known for some time, that abortion has a higher link to breast cancer occurrence. But you wouldn't know that because it isn't widely reported.
Ask yourself why Komen would give funds to an organization whose primary revenue source has been linked to higher incidence of breast cancer, dating back to 1986 in the Lancet. Go ahead and fact check. http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/
Komen failed. Others will pick up the slack, and I will support their efforts to cure this terrible disease.
The Komen foundation got itself in trouble when they decided to place personal views before the mission of curing breast cancer. Brest cancer affects individuals regardless of race, religion, or political preference and needs to be fought on all fronts, not only in ways that appeal to conservative Judeo-Christians.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/what-planned-parenthood-actually-does/2011/04/06/AFhBPa2C_blog.html
And dear liberals, please quit calling people like Rick and I names when we call a spade a spade. Planned Parenthood does hundreds of millions of dollars a year in revenue in abortions.
It is the height of hypocrisy to try to impugn my character, or Rick's, because we fault any organization which associates itself with an abortion clinic. Do not tell us they are a women's health clinic.
Health clinics are everywhere, paid for via the taxpayers. Assuming Obamacare is instituted, you can get your health screenings that act as a cover for Planned Parenthood, "for free", virtually anywhere you wish.
I am not a savage animal for pointing out that dismembering a fetus and vacuuming it into a trash bag should give every mmoral person a good deal of pause and reason for reflection.
And it gives me every reason to know why Komen will never receive a single dollar of my charitable donations. There are plenty of organizations who will happily carry on the fight against breast cancer.
Komen should stop redirecting donations to other organizations. Komen's donations come (in large part)from average people who think they are giving their money to fund breast cancer research. Some no doubt feel duped.
My first thought was that if Komen has so much money that they can give it away, especially to a "lightning rod" like Planned Parenthood, they sure don't need any more of my money.
Komen still does good things and I suspect that it will be down for a while, but certainly not out. That said, given that Komen's ultimate goal is to prolong life, it's leadership should think twice about redirecting donations to an organization that has as its purpose the exact opposite, albeit only partly so.
A key way to do this is through prevention and screening. Reaching out to women wherever they are is a key to end breast cancer and some women go to Planned Parenthood. The go there to get a variety of low cost, and legal, medical services. When Komen started to put their leaderships personal values ahead of the goal to end breast cancer they let their donors down. When people let their personal view get in the way of saving lives they are pro-death not pro-life.
Pro-choice isn't pro-death; it simply gives people an opportunity to make their OWN decisions. Clearly you think you're fit to make decisions for others.
Let me guess you're anti-big government (except in this instance.) Typical!!!!
Komen has proven themselves nothing but a shell for Planned Parenthood. Their wishy-washy "we're pulling funding"/"wait - no we're not" attitude has demonstrated that they have no real stance. Plus, if I'm donating to cancer research - I want all my $ (less a SMALL % for administrative) to go to cancer research - not to a different organization. The American Cancer Society will get any donations I choose to give going forward.
Last point - Komen's association with PP is absolutely abhorrent. How can an organization which claims primarily to support women morally donate to the very organization that has done more harm to women over the years than any other?
If you are not pro-life, you are pro-the-opposite-of-life, which is death.