Vice President Joe Biden is on a cause to find a cure for cancer. We’re with him. You can be, too.
“Sure,” you say, right? “It’s such a huge effort and it’s so complicated. What can we possibly do on our own?”
Absolutely true. But in announcing this “moon shot” effort to tackle cancer, the White House made clear that this is something that is doable and that everyone can help to advance.
Frankly, we can all make this part of our personal cause because pretty much every one of us is touched by cancer in some way, either personally, through a family member, a friend, co-worker or someone in our community.
The question, of course, is how. Our answer is that there are ways large and small to get involved and we offer ourselves as an example.
You can always take out your checkbook and make a donation to the American Cancer Society or a local cancer research or treatment center.
We’ve done that. Through the National Life Group Foundation we’ve donated to nonprofits that support those with cancer or to cancer survivors, including Dragonheart Vermont, the American Cancer Society and Camp Ta-Kum-Ta, all charities dedicated to working on cancer. We also helped to build the National Life Cancer Treatment Center at Central Vermont Medical Center right here in our own backyard.
You can support a cause or event that raises money for cancer research, or treatment.
We’ve done that, too. Over the past two years, the Do Good Fest that we organize has raised $26,000 for the Branches of Hope cancer patient fund at the treatment center we helped build. The Do Good Fest is a music festival that also includes food, family fun, beer (we did say fun, right?) and a host of other nonprofits right here on the lawn below our home office.
You can also give of yourself by volunteering at a cancer center or participating in one of the activities that helps raise money for cancer, such as the Race for the Cure or the Relay for Life.
And, yes, you guessed it, we’ve done our part there, too. Our employees get 40 hours of paid time every year to volunteer for these kinds of activities.
We’re not sharing this just to blow our own horn, although we are admittedly quite proud of our own efforts. Our point is that this is a cause that you can join and you can do your own part, no matter how large or small it might be.
We’ll leave it to the White House to figure out how to bring together all of these individual threads into a cohesive national strategy. But we say we’re in. We’ll do our part. We’ve joined the cause.
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