Madison, WI –– The South Central Wisconsin Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure will host the 16th annual Komen Race for the Cure on Willow Island at the Alliant Energy Center on Saturday, June 1, 2013. Your support will continue to help the Affiliate’s work in education, outreach and support of breast health and breast cancer services for low resource women and their families in an eight county service area: Dane, Rock , Sauk, Green, Iowa, Columbia, Jefferson and Dodge.
Where does the money go from the Komen Race for the Cure events? This spring, Komen SCWI awarded over $553,000 in local community grants to seven non-profit organizations at the annual Komen Pink Ribbon Celebration Dinner. These community grants for breast health and breast cancer services support the Wisconsin Well Woman Program in three counties, the UW Hospital Breast Center, The Catholic Multicultural Centerprogramming for Spanish speakers, and Mercy Hospital. The complete list of programs and contact information is listed at Komen.org.
The seven Komen-funded community programs are:
Catholic Multi-Cultural Center, Center for Patient Partnerships- UW Law School, Community Action, Inc. Rock County- Wisconsin Well Woman Program, Mercy Health System- Breast Health Navigator, UW Hospital and Clinics- UW Breast Center, Wisconsin Well Woman Program Dane County- Treatment Access Fund (TAF),and the Wisconsin Well Woman Program of Sauk County- Treatment Access Fund (TAF).
Three of the seven grants at the Wisconsin Department of Public Health’s Wisconsin Well Woman Program will support the continuation of the Treatment Access Fund which provides financial assistance to individuals facing a breast health problem or breast cancer, with limited income, who have little or no insurance and are residing in Dane, Rock and Sauk Counties. Since 2000, the Treatment Access Fund, solely funded by Komen, has assisted more than 600 individuals and distributed over $500,000 toward medical bills for un-insured and under-insured individuals. These funds are also used for temporary assistance for housing, transportation and energy for individuals with breast cancer to reduce barriers and assist follow through with treatment.
“The Komen SCWI Affiliate funding is vital to helping women with limited resources who are affected by breast cancer in our community”, said Kari Sievert, Dane County Coordinator for the Wisconsin Well Woman Program. “There would be a devastating impact for our local communities without the Komen safety net funding for individuals with limited access to healthcare. There simply is no other organization, aside from Komen, funding breast health and breast cancer programs at the community level”, added Sievert.
Seventy-five percent of funds raised by the South Central Wisconsin area stay in the local community,“ These grants allow us to keep helping hundreds of local women here who really need us- women without insurance, without resources or without help during a breast cancer diagnosis,” said Michelle Heitzinger, Executive Director. “We’re grateful for our community’s generosity in helping to serve the women and their families who live here.”
The remaining 25% of our fundraising goes directly into Komen’s National Breast Cancer Research Awards and Grants program. “Our local Komen Affiliate has contributed approximately $1.4 million into that fund over our fifteen year history and over $5 million has been awarded to the UW Hospital to fund breast cancer research. That is a tremendous return on our donor investment in this community!” said Heitzinger.
About Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and the Komen South Central Wisconsin Affiliate
Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever, and in 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The South Central Wisconsin Affiliate is part of the world’s largest and most progressive grassroots network fighting breast cancer. Through events like the Komen South Central Wisconsin Race for the Cure, the SCWI Affiliate has invested $4.9 million in community breast cancer programs in Dane, Rock and Sauk Counties. This year our service area is expanding to include Dodge, Iowa, Columbia, Green and Jefferson Counties. Up to 75 percent of net proceeds generated by the Affiliate stays in South Central Wisconsin. The remaining 25 percent funds national breast cancer research. For more information, call 608-836-1083608-836-1083 or visit Komen.org.
Click here to view/download the original pdf