Local support

Dear editor:
I am proud to say that I have been with the Canadian Cancer’s Society’s “Relay For Life” committee for five years, serving as co-chair for the last four, as well as being a participant and team captain for more than 10 years.
As many people are aware, the annual “Relay For Life” event in Fort Frances is fast-approaching so it was with great interest that I read the letter Joelle Blanc-Paul wrote to you [in last week’s Times].
She raised many great questions about where all those dollars go—and I hope to shed some light on them.
The Canadian Cancer Society sends much (60 percent) of all funds raised to cancer research. Other money is dedicated to cancer prevention, advocating for public policies such as the tanning bed legislation, supporting those living with cancer, and paid positions to run this large organization.
All of that sounds great but the question was: “What does the Canadian Cancer Society do for us locally?”
Four years ago, the Canadian Cancer Society entered into a partnership with the Riverside Foundation for Health Care. This partnership keeps a large amount of money here in our community.
In 2012, we gave $30,000 to the “Together We Can” campaign. In 2013, we gave the Foundation $35,000 to purchase a chemo peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) line and fund training so fewer people would have to travel for treatment.
In 2014, we gave more than $5,000 to the Foundation in support of cancer care.
This partnership is still in place and with the hard work of our committee and teams, we once again will be giving back to Riverside Foundation.
(Signed),
Jenn Anderson
Co-chair,
“Relay For Life,”
Fort Frances, Ont.