Hope Starts Here: About Making Strides
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Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is the American Cancer Society’s rallying cry to raise awareness and dollars to fight breast cancer, the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women (after nonmelanoma skin cancers) and the second leading cause of cancer death among women, after lung cancer.
In 2005, more than 400,000 people nationwide participated in Making Strides walks, including nearly 60,000 walkers at 15 events in New England. The money raised through pledges and sponsorships funds cutting-edge breast cancer research; prevention, detection, and patient service programs, as well as advocacy efforts to ensure, among other things, that every woman, regardless of their ability to pay, can get lifesaving mammograms and breast cancer treatment.
Making Strides is a noncompetitive one-day walk that brings hope, support, and a sense of community to millions of people nationwide whose lives have been forever altered by a disease that will claim 40,970 women and 460 men in the U.S. this year. Please choose from the links below to learn more about the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. |
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About Making Strides:
Making Strides is Noncompetitive
There are 17 walks in New England, 15 scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 15, 2006, and two scheduled for later in the month. The length is 3-6 miles, depending on the event, and individuals of all ages and abilities are welcome to participate. Take as long as you need to finish, or walk just as far as you are able. It is not a race; it is a celebration of survivorship, an occasion to show support for breast cancer patients and their loved ones, and a time to honor those whose lives were cut short by the disease. Making Strides is about hope and a shared goal to end a disease that 1 in 8 American women will be diagnosed with at some point in their lives. The walks will be held rain or shine. Participants in wheelchairs should contact their local American Cancer Society office before the event.
Everyone Can Participate
The success of Making Strides Against Breast Cancer depends on you. Committed individuals who raise pledges, as well as the events’ generous sponsors, are making a difference in the fight against breast cancer. Thanks to higher mammography rates, increased awareness, and improved treatment, all of which require money to accomplish, death rates are declining. Organizations or businesses can sponsor their own team of walkers, and friends, families, neighbors, classmates, sports teams, etc., can form their own teams and walk as a group. Volunteers are needed to help at the event with registration, traffic, information, and many other important functions. Sign up for this year's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk, or if you'd prefer sign up to volunteer at a Making Strides near you.
Team Up to Save Lives
Nothing can describe the camaraderie of walking with those who share a passion for defeating breast cancer. Encourage your friends to get involved; recruit a group to walk with you. Because many people have been touched by breast cancer in some way, it is easy to find others to walk with you. Once you sign up as a team leader on your walk’s Web site, you will be able to email lots of people at once through your Participant Center, asking them to join your team. Contact us for a team leader kit that contains helpful tools to get you started. Team leaders will be invited to an informative kickoff late in the summer, where you will learn everything you need to know to lead your team. Individual walkers, not on a team, are welcome too.
Registration is Simple
We offer an easy and fun way for you to raise money online. We recommend that all participants sign up to use the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer online fundraising tool which makes it easy to email lots of people at once to ask for support, and makes it easy for donors to make a quick and secure online donation. Your online Participant Center will track your online donors, and your offline donations as pledges. On the day of the event, bring your offline donations with you, as we will collect them at registration. Click here to find your local Making Strides site with more information.
Set Your Own Fundraising Goal
Participants are not required to raise a minimum amount, and donations are made for your participation rather than per mile. Obtain donations of $10, $25, $50, $100, or more. Money may be turned in at registration or donated online. If you have not finished collecting by the day of the event, or are unable to attend, copy the contribution form and mail your remaining pledges to your local American Cancer Society office. Don’t forget to click here to find an event near you or to start raising money online.
Now that you've learned about Making Strides, sign up to walk!
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Where the Dollars Go :
Last year, the $34 million raised across the country through Making Strides Against Breast Cancer helped the American Cancer Society make significant progress in saving lives. More than $5.6 million of that was raised in New England with the help of nearly 60,000 Making Strides participants. With your support, we are fighting breast cancer every day.
Research
As the nation’s largest source of private, nonprofit cancer research funds, the American Cancer Society has distributed more than $3 billion to researchers since 1946. We take pride in funding promising researchers early in their careers, and our track record is superb. Of the researchers chosen for Society funding through the years, 38 have gone on to win the Nobel Prize. Since 1972, the Society has funded $290 million in breast cancer research grants, including grants that supported the development of tamoxifen and Herceptin, and the discovery of the breast cancer gene. The Society spends more on breast cancer than on any other solid tumor site, however many of the research grants we support are in basic science that may have relevance to many kinds of cancers. Right now, 34 breast cancer research projects are underway in New England institutions, thanks to $18.1 million in funding provided by the American Cancer Society and raised, in part, through Making Strides. Click here to view our Research Then and Now video on the American Cancer Society's Web site, www.cancer.org.
Early Detection
At the American Cancer Society, we know that detecting breast cancer early, at its most treatable stage, can make the difference between life and death. So we provide guidelines, physician education, and awareness efforts to increase screening for all women. Increasing breast cancer incidence is slowing, but the really good news is that death rates from breast cancer are declining, especially among younger women, thanks to increased use of mammography, increased awareness of the need to get screened annually starting at age 40, and improved treatment methods discovered through research. The chance of dying from breast cancer is about 1 in 33. Click here to learn how to detect breast cancer early.
Advocacy
Breast cancer is not just a health issue—it is a political one as well. Advocacy efforts by the American Cancer Society affect many of the laws that govern what options are available to people battling cancer, such as what treatments Medicare is legally required to cover. We work hard to keep breast cancer funding a top priority with our nation’s lawmakers. We helped ensure enactment of the federal Breast and Cervical Cancer Treatment Act to help low-income women obtain cancer treatment, and we actively advocate for any legislation that will improve the quality of treatment for breast cancer patients and the quality of life for breast cancer survivors. To learn more about our breast cancer advocacy efforts, click here.
Cancer Survivors NetworkSM
Our Cancer Survivors Network is the first of its kind. It was created by and for cancer survivors and families to address their need to connect with others who have been touched by cancer, to share their experiences, and support one another. The phone component offers pre-recorded discussions among survivors and family members that users can navigate like a talk-radio show. The Web resources provide materials and the ability to create a home page, participate in Web casts, and contact other survivors. Breast cancer survivors make up the majority of the users registered on the site. The Cancer Survivors Network is accessible through 1.877.333.HOPE (4673) and www.acscsn.org.
The Public Agenda
Making Strides helps keeps breast cancer issues in the public eye. Walkers and volunteers are committed to helping us get the word out about lifesaving early detection, which is the best defense against breast cancer. Making Strides also helps promote important public policies, including those which provide access to quality health care and screening for all women. We know, for instance, that breast cancer mortality is higher among African American women than white women despite a lower incidence rate, and we are working on eradicating that disparity. Many of our walkers take the extra step to get involved in grassroots advocacy efforts, letting their legislators know how they feel about cancer issues, ranging from tobacco control efforts to research funding. Making Strides, which falls during Breast Cancer Awareness Month, galvanizes support for better detection methods and treatments and serves to remind people that we still have work to do.
Mammogram Reminder
Our interactive mammogram reminder tool will send an email message reminding you or someone you love to "Please, schedule your mammogram today. Click here to sign up for a mammogram reminder.
Now that you've learned where the dollars go, make a donation or sign up to walk!
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History of Making Strides:
Making Strides Against Breast Cancer is the American Cancer Society’s premier event to raise awareness and dollars to fight breast cancer. We are proud to say it began in Boston and New Hampshire in 1993. This year there will be more than 110 Making Strides walks across the nation and, to date, three million Making Strides walkers across the U.S. have raised more than $194 million to fight breast cancer and improve the lives of breast cancer patients.
On Sunday, Oct. 15, 2006, which we hope will be a glorious autumn day, walkers will gather at 15 Making Strides events in New England; Boston, Nantucket, Westport and Hartford, CT; Portland, Damariscotta, and Brunswick, Maine; and the eight New Hampshire communities of Manchester, Concord, Nashua, Dover, Exeter, Laconia, Peterborough, and North Conway. New Hampshire is the #1 per capita Making Strides state in the U.S.! The walk in Providence, RI and Danbury, CT are scheduled for October 22, 2006.
Making Strides is a noncompetitive walk supporting the American Cancer Society’s unique mission to fight cancer on four fronts: research, education, advocacy, and patient services. As the nation’s largest nongovernmental breast cancer research supporter, the American Cancer Society has invested more than $290 million since 1972 to give those touched by breast cancer more reasons for hope. When you get involved in Making Strides, you help ensure progress against breast cancer continues and more lives are saved. Thanks in part to Making Strides, New England states rank among the nation’s highest for mammography screening due to our outreach to ethnic minorities, the elderly, and the medically underserved.
The American Cancer Society is the only organization available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year to help people touched by cancer. Breast cancer is the number one reason people contact our toll-free number, 1-800-ACS-2345. When you support Making Strides, you are helping us unravel the mystery of how breast cancer begins and seek better ways to prevent, detect, and treat the disease. Sign up for Making Strides and enjoy a few hours of exercise, inspiration, camaraderie, entertainment, healthy snacks, and most importantly, come to honor someone who's been affected by this disease, especially if it is you. Together, we will make strides toward a cancer-free future for all women, men, and their families.
Now that you've learned the history of Making Strides, sign up to walk!
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