Heather Womeldorff's Fundraiser:

SUSAN G KOMEN Pittsburgh wrote -

OUR MISSION  |  Save lives by meeting the most critical needs in our communities and investing in breakthrough research to prevent and cure breast cancer.

OUR BOLD GOAL  |  Reduce the current number of breast cancer deaths by 50%  in the U.S. by 2026.

Over the past twenty-five years, Susan G. Komen Pittsburgh has grown in size, impact, and service; having evolved from an annual Race for the Cure into a year-round, comprehensive nonprofit organization serving 34-counties in western and central Pennsylvania. In those twenty-five years, we have given over $20 million in local granting to meet community needs and over $7.6 million to national research; seventy-five percent of funds raised fund local education, screening, and treatment initiatives and twenty-five percent funds national research.

Through partnerships, such as the Run for a Reason charity partnership, we are able to provide extensive community outreach and education through our grants program. We are the sole funder of the Mammogram Voucher Program (MVP), which provides uninsured women and men with mammograms and follow-up diagnostic services, having invested over $11.5 million to support this program.

Over three decades ago, pink was just another color. Today, pink often symbolizes and is associated with breast cancer awareness. Pink ribbons are the international symbol for breast cancer and pink seems to be everywhere, from bagels to clothing, from Terrible Towels to jewelry.  But today pink is more than just a color, it is more than just a symbol; it is an opportunity for you to join the Susan G. Komen® Pittsburgh Affiliate in turning awareness into action, to be… More Than Pink.

 While research has made incredible strides in the diagnosis and treatment of breast cancer, the cures for this disease still elude us. It is estimated that in 2017, among U.S. women, 246,660 new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed and an estimated 40,450 women will die as a result of breast cancer. Approximately 2,600 new cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in men in the U.S. in 2017, and 440 men will die from breast cancer.    

The Susan G. Komen breast cancer organization has undertaken a very bold plan to reduce the nation’s current 40,000 annual breast cancer deaths by 50 percent over the next 10 years by improving access to quality and timely cancer care for the underserved, as well as enhancing research focus on lethal breast cancers. With this bold goal in sight, it is now time to demonstrate that Komen is more than a color - that we are More Than Pink.

Every day we renew our commitment to find the cures for breast cancer and shine hope into the lives of those battling all stages of this horrible disease. Together, we look with hope to a day without breast cancer.