The Problem With Pink-Ribbon Drives (Abstract Only)

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Title: The Problem With Pink-Ribbon Drives

Author/Byline:  Caroline Bermudez

Publication: Chronicle of Philanthropy

Publication Date: November 28, 2010

A medical sociologist says that pink-ribbon drives to promote attention to breast cancer are not effective in combating the disease.

Pink Ribbon Blues: How Breast Cancer Culture Undermines Women’s Health

By Gayle A. Sulik

Gayle A. Sulik, a medical sociologist, says that pink-ribbon drives to promote attention to breast cancer are not effective in combating the disease, but instead divert attention way from the fact that the ailment is a public-health concern.

Based on eight years of observations, analysis of breast-cancer advertisements and awareness campaigns, and interviews with hundreds of breast-cancer experts, Ms. Sulik concludes that for all the coverage breast cancer receives, a cure still remains elusive and jumps in survival rates have been modest at best.

She is particularly critical of the charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which organizes walks and races that draw thousands of participants.

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Komen Opens DC Office (Abstract Only)

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Title: People

Author/Byline: Gregg Sangillo and Sara Jerome

Publication:  National Journal

Publication Date: February 20, 2010

Nancy Brinkerhas returned to the organization she founded many years ago. She is now chief executive officer of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a group dedicated to defeating breast cancer and named for Brinker’s sister, who died of the disease in 1980 at age 36. Brinker formed the organization in 1982 after promising her sister that she would give her all to fighting breast cancer.

Of her return, Brinker says, “When I said that I would do everything that I could to help honor her promise, I didn’t mean it to be just for whatever time it took to get the first part of it done, or the second part of it done. But I wanted to do everything I could to eradicate this disease.” Komen for the Cure, which has been battling state budget cuts that it says could reduce women’s access to mammography and other health services, recently opened a D.C. office.

Last August,President Obamaawarded Brinker the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country’s highest civilian honor, for her crusade against breast cancer. When the White House called to tell her about it, she says, “I dropped the phone and started crying.”

Brinker was chief of protocol in theGeorge W. BushState Department from 2007 to early 2009. Before that, she was U.S. ambassador to Hungary. Brinker left her ambassadorial post early to be closer to her dying father, but when she returned to the States, she was offered the U.S. protocol job. She was torn, but “[my father] said to me, ‘When your country calls on you, and your president asks you to do something, you do it, no matter what. There’s never a good time.’ ”

A native of Peoria, Ill., Brinker, who declined to give her age, graduated from the University of Illinois in the late 1960s, then moved to Dallas to enter the executive training program at Neiman Marcus. She was married to the lateNorman Brinker, a restaurant entrepreneur who ran Brinker International, the parent company of Chili’s and other restaurants.Eric Brinker, her son from a previous marriage, is a businessman and serves on Susan G. Komen’s board of directors.

As a veteran of the breast cancer awareness movement, Brinker says, “There’s a whole lot of issues and barriers in the way. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not simple. But if I didn’t see the enormous part that Susan G. Komen has played [in raising awareness], I wouldn’t feel nearly as hopeful. But I know what we’ve done, and I know where we’re going.”–Gregg Sangillo

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Susan G. Komen for the Cure Adds Eric Brinker to Its Board (Abstract Only)

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Title: Susan G. Komen for the Cure Adds Eric Brinker to Its Board

Author: Unknown

Publication: Health & Beauty Close-Up

Publication Date: January 21, 2010

Eric Brinker, a longtime breast cancer volunteer, co-survivor and activist, has been elected to the board of directors of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a breast cancer organization.

Eric Brinker is the son of Komen for the Cure founder and CEO Ambassador Nancy G. Brinker, and the nephew of Susan G. Komen, for whom the organization is named. He is filling the board seat left vacant by the 2009 death of his father, Norman Brinker, who had served on Komen’s board since it formed in 1982. Although Norman Brinker held a lifetime board appointment, Eric was elected to serve the typical two-year term.

Brinker is often described as Komen’s first volunteer, growing up helping to fulfill the promise that Nancy Brinker made to her sister, Susan G. Komen, to end breast cancer forever. Susan G. Komen died of breast cancer in 1980.

Several years later, at the age of eight, Brinker lived through his mother’s own battle with breast cancer, learning first-hand what it means to be a co-survivor.

“We are so fortunate on the board to have Eric’s business acumen, his long association with our organization, and his first-hand experience with this disease — an experience that fuels his untiring energy and passion for our cause,” said Alexine Clement Jackson, chairperson of Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s board of directors.

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White House to Award Nation’s Highest Civilian Honor to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Founder Nancy G. Brinker (Abstract Only)

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Title: White House to Award Nation’s Highest Civilian Honor to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Founder Nancy G. Brinker

Author: Unknown

Publication: Business Wire

Publication Date: July 30, 2009

Ambassador Nancy Goodman Brinker, whose promise to her dying sister launched Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and the worldwide breast cancer movement, was nominated for the highest civilian honor in the United States – the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the White House announced today.

Brinker, founder of the world’s leading breast cancer organization and a Goodwill Ambassador for Cancer Control of the World Health Organization, will receive the Medal from President Barack Obama at a White House ceremony Aug. 12.

She is being honored for her leadership in building Susan G. Komen for the Cure into a global force for change for people with breast cancer, leading the way in breast cancer research, advocacy, education and outreach. With her vision, Dallas-based Komen for the Cure has grown from a group of friends in a living room to an organization with more than 120 domestic and global Affiliates, more than 1.5 million advocates and a presence in more than 50 countries.

“To say that I am honored, humbled and exhilarated is a vast understatement,” Brinker said. “I will be pleased to accept this honor in my sister’s memory, and on behalf of the millions of women and men who have walked side-by-side with us over many years to end the suffering and misery from this disease.”

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Brinker’s influence all around (Abstract Only)

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Title: Brinker’s influence all around

Author/Byline: Paul Gordon

Publication: Journal Star (Peoria, Illinois)

Publication Date: June 21, 2009

Jun. 21–The next time you sit down in a restaurant and somebody walks up and says, “Hi, my name is so-and-so, and I will be your server tonight,” you probably won’t think of Norman Brinker.

He won’t come to mind even when that restaurant is the Chili’s at University and Glen.

When you discuss the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure or when you go to the Metro Centre, it will be different Brinkers — Nancy and Eric — who will likely come to mind.

Norman Brinker, considered a titan in the restaurant industry and the pioneer of the casual dining experience, never lived in Peoria, so not many here know him. But his influence is felt here, almost on a daily basis.

“He couldn’t even boil water or turn on a stove, but he did an awful lot to make the restaurant industry what it is today simply because it interested him. That’s how he was,” Eric Brinker said the other day while talking about his father. “And I was very fortunate to have him as a mentor.”

Norman Brinker died June 9 at the age of 78. The chairman and founder of Brinker International Inc. who took Chili’s from a hamburger stand to the casual dining success it is today (among other successful ventures), his death brought national coverage, including a tribute on NBC Nightly News. His memorial service in Dallas, where he lived, brought famous people who were his friends, such as Ross Perot, T. Boone Pickens and Roger Staubach.

Also among the famous was Peoria native Nancy Goodman Brinker, who formerly served as the United States Ambassador to Hungary and Chief of Protocol to President George W. Bush.

She was still married to Norman Brinker when, with his urging and help, she founded the Komen Foundation in 1982. They divorced in 2003.

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Survivors ask if too much pink hurts cause (Abstract Only)

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Title: Survivors ask if too much pink hurts cause

Author/Byline: Scripps Howard Newspapers

Publication: The Augusta Chronicle (Georgia)

Publication Date: October 31, 2008

Gail Lemberger noticed a colorful trend while browsing through Sunday advertisements.

There were pink blenders, pink iPods, pink tools, pink vacuums. There were even pink coupons to purchase pink food items.

During October – Breast Cancer Awareness Month – the pink-tinged campaigns turned out in force. But with so many companies now promoting the cause, there is a concern that pink fatigue is settling in.

“I definitely would say it is oversaturated as far as products that are pink,” said Ms. Lemberger, 49, a breast cancer survivor from Camarillo. “We definitely need to spread awareness, but I don’t really think there is a need for that much pink stuff.”

Like Ms. Lemberger, many patients and survivors have mixed emotions about pink campaigns. They want to promote awareness and raise money for the cause, but they worry about the potential for overkill and exploitation.

Because the pink ribbon associated with breast cancer awareness is not trademarked or copyrighted, any company can place it on a product, which means proceeds from the sale may or may not benefit breast cancer. It could be used just to promote awareness.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Helping female athletes (Abstract Only)

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Title: LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Helping female athletes

Author: DIANE LUND-MUZIKANT

Publication: The Oregonian (Portland, Oregon)

Publication Date: August 18, 2007

Komen’s sour note

I am deeply offended that the Komen Foundation has chosen Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar, to hold its annual survivor celebration luncheon on Sept. 22. As a Jew and a breast cancer survivor, I’ve always felt honored to attend this luncheon which has given me inspiration in my battle against this deadly disease –particularly when the lights in the Oregon Convention Center are dimmed and I’ve held a lit candle representing life.

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The dark side of pink; Buying a sponsoring product doesn’t mean a bonanza for breast cancer research (Abstract Only)

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Title: The dark side of pink; Buying a sponsoring product doesn’t mean a bonanza for breast cancer research

Author/Byline: Unknown

Publication: Philadelphia Daily News

Publication Date: October 18, 2006

AREN’T YOU about sick of pink right now?

I love the color. But it’s everywhere. Stores are selling pink vacuum cleaners, pink Peppermint Patties, pink Serta mattresses, pink hammers and evenpink cans of Campbell Soup – all to benefit various breast-cancer-related charities.

There’s even a Pink Ribbon Barbie.

Many products that aren’t completely pink have the pink breast cancer logo or some other designation announcing that a portion of the proceeds from sales will go to benefit breast cancer efforts. Panera Bread, for instance, is selling ribbon-shaped bagels to benefit the Ellie Fund.)

Although I applaud the altruism of corporate America, I can’t help but be a little suspicious. It’s easy to put a pink ribbon on something and claim a product is being sold to benefit a breast-cancer charity.

Often, the companies’ efforts are commendable. The Susan G. Komen Foundation, for instance, lists on its Web site 22 $1 million corporate sponsors.

But activists warn there are some companies whose pink products benefit charities only loosely related to the cause. Some companies promise a lump sum, regardless of how much product they sell.

And then there are all those companies that contribute only a small percentage of the proceeds from the sale of their pink products. In other words, things aren’t always as rosy as they seem in pink land.

“If [consumers] read the small print on these products, for the most part, their individual purchases will raise very little money,” pointed out Samantha King, author of the new book “Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy.”

And as Barbara Brenner of Breast Cancer Action pointed out during a recent conversation, “Somebody has to ask, ‘Where is all this money going?’ ”

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In the Neighborhood (Abstract Only)

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Title: In The Neighborhood

Author/Byline: Andrew Meacham

Publication: St. Petersburg Times (Florida)

Publication Date: July 28, 2006

A Lithia woman has organized a golf tournament to raise money for breast cancer research. Sandy Meyer, an information technology specialist for an insurance company, plans to participate in the Breast Cancer 3-Day walk in October, sponsored by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The foundation asks participants to raise $2,200 in donations.

“I did not have a lot of ties to raise that kind of money,” said Meyer, 36, who moved here from Cleveland a year and a half ago.

Then she hit on the idea of a golf tournament and lined up Bank of America, Miller Lite and JJ Taylor Cos. as sponsors.

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Letter to the Editor (Abstract Only)

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Title: Letters to the Editor

Author: Millie Christmon

Publication: The State Journal-Register (Springfield, IL)

Publication Date:June 19, 2004

Dear Editor,

I read with great interest the story written by Tamara Browning in the June 11th edition of the paper about the lady from Petersburg, Kathy Schwab, who is participating in the breast cancer three-day walk in support of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. I felt compelled to let her and others know that my niece, Tereasa Christmon, is also participating in this event. She felt the need to participate in honor of a family member who contracted cancer last year.

After a course of treatment, she is currently cancer-free at this time. As a freshman in high school, Tereasa’s dearest friend lost her mother to a long- fought battle with breast cancer. Tereasa is doing this out of gratitude and the need to actively support breast cancer research.

Each walker in the event must raise at least $2,000 in donations. In a letter she wrote to me, Tereasa stated that for her, “The walking is easy; asking for the dollars is not.”

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