First planning meeting for 2012 Relay for Life
Jessica Smith
Atikokan’s Relay for Life committee wants to clear the air on how the money raised by the community is spent by the Canadian Cancer Society.
Concerns from residents about the Cancer Society’s shrinking research budget, and how the money they donate to the Relay for Life will be used, has prompted the committee to organize a public town hall meeting with regional Cancer Society reps, Monday, January 30, 5-8 pm, at North Star Community School’s Sunshine Room.
Committee members said rumours, concerns and some outright inaccuracies began swirling last summer when CBC and Macleans’ reported that the national organization had decreased the percentage budgeted for research in the past decade while the budget for fundraising and administration rose.
The CCS will share budgeting information, including how donor dollars directly benefit Atikokan and the region through not only research, but support for those with cancer, prevention education and advocating for policy changes to protect people from scientifically proven carcinogens.
Committee chair Kerri Hensrud and member Clorissa Ekstrom said they want to address community concerns before planning this summer’s Relay for Life fundraiser.
Following a presentation by the society’s northwest regional office rep Maria Cabral, the floor will be open to questions from the public, and then the committee hopes to recruit more volunteers to run this year’s event. Atikokan has a long history of supporting the Cancer Society through numerous fundraisers. In the past four years the Relay event has become the key fundraiser, and the town has donated over $120,000 to the Society, notes Cabral. “That’s phenomenal for a town of that size.”
She said she will share the budgeting for this provincial division of the national organization and show how money raised here is spent.
“We’re transparent and we’re not hiding anything.”
Though the society spends a larger proportion on fundraising than it has in the past, she added that there is a clear return on that investment, given that fundraisers like the Relay for Life raised $54 million at 486 events in 2010, and the Society’s overall research funding has risen from $44 million to $49 million annually over the past decade.
The society is holding similar public meetings in Kenora, Greenstone and Marathon, and last week held one in Fort Frances.
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