I try to stay out of political discussions here, for various reasons. But I've been stewing about the latest Susan G Komen fiasco. Whether you are pro-choice or not, one would think that access to healthcare and cancer screenings would be at the top of everyone's list. I take this matter personally because the mother of my darling brother in law recently lost a long, hard battle with the disease. My own boss is fighting it right now, as is a neighbor.
As I started looking in to their organization, it shocked me to find out how little of the actual dollars donated actually go to research and screenings. 20%. Yep, that isn't a typo. Less than 1/5th of the money raised goes to actually helping women. And in the years that SGK has been active, the actual survival rate for breast cancer hasn't budged. Their founder, Nancy Brinker, makes nearly a half million dollar per year salary. Other big wigs inin the company aren't far behind.
Did you know that they actually SUE other charities for using the phrase "for the cure"?! Holy cow. It's become a brand and not a charity. But still I was willing to let most of this go.
Today, however, I was looking at their facebook site and ran across an alarming post by one of the SGK affiliates. It was in response to posters calling them out for their practices. What I saw was shocking.
As I started looking in to their organization, it shocked me to find out how little of the actual dollars donated actually go to research and screenings. 20%. Yep, that isn't a typo. Less than 1/5th of the money raised goes to actually helping women. And in the years that SGK has been active, the actual survival rate for breast cancer hasn't budged. Their founder, Nancy Brinker, makes nearly a half million dollar per year salary. Other big wigs inin the company aren't far behind.
Did you know that they actually SUE other charities for using the phrase "for the cure"?! Holy cow. It's become a brand and not a charity. But still I was willing to let most of this go.
Today, however, I was looking at their facebook site and ran across an alarming post by one of the SGK affiliates. It was in response to posters calling them out for their practices. What I saw was shocking.
Then there is this little ditty:
Lovely, ladies. Just lovely. I'm reinstating my decision to stop purchasing anything with the pink symbol and donating my money directly to the American Cancer Society instead.
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