RALEIGH, N.C. — Organizers for the 2009 Komen NC Triangle Race for the Cure are making a final push to raise money before next weekend’s race. But they say donations are down from last year.
Individual donations for the race, which is scheduled June 13 at Meredith College, are down more than 10 percent, according to Pam Blondin, of Komen NC Triangle.
Last year, the race helped to raise about $2 million for breast cancer research. Organizers say this year that figure is expected to be down as much as $250,000.
“We’re paying for mammograms for people who don’t have insurance. We are sending people to get checkups when they find a suspicious lump,” Blondin said.
With more people out of work, race organizers say these services are becoming more in demand.
Blondin said the decrease in donations “means there are going to be people who don’t get services because so much of the money that we raise goes right back out into the community immediately.”
So with a week to go before the race, organizers are making one final push toward reaching their goal.
“We don’t want people to forgo their annual mammograms. We don’t want people to forgo their health, in general, because they can’t afford to get to the doctor,” Blondin said.
Breast cancer survivor Janice Reilly is one of the thousands who will be running in this year’s race. When she was diagnosed three years ago, she said it was a shock.
“It blew me out of the water. I was scared to death,” Reilly said.
She now calls herself one of the lucky ones. Not just because she's cancer free, but because she found a sisterhood of women racing for a cure to the disease.
“A big part of what I want for people to know is that they don’t have to be lucky. If they’re informed, then they can catch breast caner early as well,” Reilly said.
Click here to donate to the Triangle Race for the Cure on behalf of Team WRAL.
