Step Up: More Funding for Childhood Cancer Research
Ask Congress to Step Up with More Funding for Childhood Cancer
Good Morning ACCO Members,
Today is the launch of the first stage of #StepUp social media campaign, which will run for the next 7 days. We will be posting a new blog post each morning of the campaign with that day’s core message and any supporting documents, visuals, and social media suggestions. From there, you can choose if and how to incorporate the message of the day into your organization’s social media.
Please read to the end – A coordinated community effort is underway to storm Congress – on foot and online. Childhood cancer organizations throughout the country are joining together, and we’re going to send Congress a message, “Step UP: More Funding for Childhood Cancer Research.” Read Blog…
Almost everyone has a story to tell about childhood cancer. The odds are you or someone you know has been radically altered by this disease. Because the fact is, one out of every 300 children in the United States will develop some form of cancer before their 20th birthday, and very few will survive it.
Despite remarkable long-term survival rates for many forms of adult cancers, survival rates for childhood cancers remain disturbingly low. But these miracle cancer treatments are sadly ineffective for childhood cancers, which are more aggressive and stubbornly resistant to surgical or chemical remedies. And children’s young bodies are more sensitive: the harsh treatments required to kill cancer cells, even when successful, often lead to secondary cancers or long-term disabilities.
The successes modern medicine has seen treating adult cancers could be mirrored in childhood cancers if only we were prepared to give them the same attention. But we don’t. Did you know, for example, that in 2012, the National Cancer Institute funded more than $600 million for breast cancer research, but only $200 million for all forms of childhood cancer put together? Childhood cancer could be survivable. Childhood cancer could be treatable. If we want it to be.
You CAN help! If you are dedicated to beating childhood cancer in all its forms, join us as we storm Congress and demand that they fix this inequality and give our children a chance to survive this terrible childhood disease. Childhood cancer organizations throughout the country are joining together, and we’re going to send Congress a message: “Step UP: More Funding for Childhood Cancer Research.“
There are many ways for you to help:
- A little bird will shout from the rooftops that kids deserve to be a higher priority. Tweet your members of Congress usingSoundOff with a new message each day. Here is an example tweet:
- I just sent a #SoundOff to my Reps in Congress about #StepUp. Would you hit this link and do it too? http://www.soundoffatcongress.org/nY2f
- Posting to Twitter on your own? That’s great! Please use the #StepUp hashtag so we can track our success. Here are some example posts:
- Step Up: More Funding for #ChildhoodCancer Research #StepUp http://www.soundoffatcongress.org/nY2f
- Children with cancer deserve more federal research funding. Tell Congress to #StepUp: http://www.soundoffatcongress.org/nY2f
- Increase appropriations for NCI #StepUp – More Funding for Childhood Cancer Research http://www.soundoffatcongress.org/nY2f
- Help us virtually storm Congress: Ask your Reps to #StepUp & support more funding for childhood cancer research. Please share!
- Email your Representatives (by clicking either of these links: House and Congress) and ask them to increase appropriations for NCI and reauthorize the Carolyn Pryce Walker Act.
- Change your Facebook and Twitter profile photos to the “StepUp” image
- Directly ask three friends to share the message with their representatives
Every day we’ll share a different tweet that can be found within the SoundOff Campaign. Please follow our Facebook and Twitter pages closely so we can send a cohesive message to the Hill each day.
This week, as advocates travel to Washington D.C. for Action Days, and supporters from home make their voices heard loud and clear, we’ll take one step in a long journey towards more federal research funding and better treatments for kids with cancer.
Please be a part of this coordinated community effort.
Sincerely,