Registration Deadline is Aug. 5 for Komen for the Cure and Hadassah Delegation Trip to Israel
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. – July 26, 2010 – Susan G. Komen for the Cure® founder and CEO Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker today thanked Jewish women for their support in the fight against breast cancer in the U.S., Israel and worldwide, and urged them to continue the fight with a week of outreach activities in Israel this October.
Brinker, head of the world’s largest breast cancer organization, appeared before the national convention of Hadassah®, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, to praise Hadassah’s longstanding work providing humanitarian aid and medical care in Israel. She urged delegates to join Komen for the Cure and Hadassah for a week of activities in Jerusalem Oct. 25-29 to establish the Israel Breast Cancer Collaborative.
This mission trip is similar to those Komen has sponsored in recent years to the Middle East, Western Europe and Africa to build on the momentum of the global breast cancer movement. During the delegation trip, Komen will call together leading researchers and clinicians for a separate, invitation-only Think Tank designed to jump-start new thinking on breast cancer science. Delegates to the larger mission trip will investigate breast cancer issues and solutions in sessions with Israeli officials and non-governmental organizations.
A highlight of the week is the first Susan G. Komen Israel Race for the Cure® around the walls of Old Jerusalem Oct. 28, hosted by Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat in partnership with Hadassah for the benefit of breast cancer programs in Israel and globally. “In a city that is significant to all faiths, we will bring together all faiths in this battle,” Brinker told the Hadassah delegates today.
Registration for the weeklong trip is only open until Aug. 5 at komen.org/israel. Those who wish to participate in the Race for the Cure as a “Virtual Israel Participant” (VIP) can also register online at that address.
Brinker said the delegation trip is the culmination of years of planning and work, “But it will not mark the fulfillment of our two organizations’ work together,” she told the Hadassah delegates. “It will mark just the beginning of our work together.”
In Israel, breast cancer is the leading cancer among women and growing rapidly, striking 4,000 women each year. Research funded by Komen over the years has identified genetic mutations that make Ashkenazi Jewish women potentially more susceptible to the disease.
Since the mid-1990s, Komen has provided more than $2 million for research and outreach programs in Israel. Over the past five years, Komen has provided $330,000 in grants to Hadassah chapters worldwide for screening and outreach programs.
Komen’s grants in Israel have benefitted the Weizmann Institute of Science, Hebrew University-Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, Beit Natan and Life’s Door. The new Collaborative provides opportunities to continue Komen’s longstanding partnerships in Israel and around the world with organizations such as the Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, as well as open doors to new collaborations with organizations such as the Israel Cancer Association.
Worldwide, Komen has provided more than $1.5 billion to research and outreach programs to fight a disease that will strike 1.3 million women this year and kill almost 500,000. Every 69 seconds, a woman dies of breast cancer.
