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A crowd of Komen supporters sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” on top of the dugout during seventh-inning stretch. | |
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Iowa Komen Community Challenge
In August, SPPG supported Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Community Challenge Tour, a nationwide year-long campaign designed to bring communities and policymakers together in an effort to close the gaps in access to care that keep breast cancer mortality rates at an unacceptably high level in our country. SPPG organized and staffed a variety of events including a Close the Gap Rally at the Iowa State Fair, which featured Komen’s Vice President of Public Policy, Diane Balma, State Representative Geri Huser, State Senator Pat Ward, breast cancer survivors, and Elizabeth Edwards as the keynote speaker. Komen brought Komen on the Go, a state of the art mobile education exhibit, to the Iowa State Fair, the Downtown Farmers Market, and the Blank Park Zoo. |
| SPPGers Ben and Kasi stopped by the Komen on the Go vehicle at the downtown Farmers Market before the Komen Night at the Iowa Cubs. | |
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More than 100 individuals gathered at Terrace Hill at a Forum to discuss policy and advocacy in fighting breast cancer. Barbara Grassley and Dr. Andrea McGuire, as well as Lisa Long from the local Komen affiliate, Shelley Fuld Nasso from the national Komen foundation, and Jeni Carney, a breast cancer survivor, gave remarks. And on Saturday night, Komen Night at the Iowa Cubs game, Presidential candidate Bill Richardson threw out the first pitch in a sea of pink foam fingers and t-shirts. The Calendar Gals, a West Des Moines group of survivors and advocates, joined us at all of the events selling their “glamour calendars” to support the fight against breast cancer and raise money for the local Komen affiliate. Komen for the Cure is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all, and energize science to find the cures. There are 2.3 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S., and this year in Iowa alone, 2,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer and 410 women will die of the disease. SPPG felt privileged to be a part of these events and do our part to highlight the need for people to advocate for equal access to health care prevention and treatment. |
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| Komen’s Night at the Cubs was a blast with pink foam fingers, pink K signs for strikeouts, and an interview in the broadcast booth with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, Democratic presidential candidate, and Meghan Evett of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. To start the night off, Governor Richardson threw the first pitch with his specially designed Cubs jersey with a large pink ribbon on it. |
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| Mrs. Barbara Grassley, wife of Senator Charles Grassley and a breast cancer survivor, was the honored guest at the Komen Close the Gap Breakfast Forum at Terrace Hill. Here she is standing with a guest admiring the educational quilt designed by Waukee resident Debbie Rolek to raise awareness about breast cancer. |
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