At Fight Colorectal Cancer, we head straight to “the top” when it comes to demanding a cure for this dreaded disease. Our advocates hit Capitol Hill each March to meet with members of Congress. And throughout the year, a special committee ensures that actions for CRC advocacy are taken.

Meet the newest members of the Grassroots Action Committee of Fight CRC – the team behind the magic that happens year after year at our annual advocacy event, Call-on Congress.

What is the GAC?

The Grassroots Action Committee was formed to coalesce the passions of die-hard colorectal cancer advocates. We consider the GAC our “super committee!” They are committed, engaged advocates who take action when asked and provide advice for engaging and empowering the grassroots advocates.

·         Participating in meetings to communicate priorities and provide input on federal and state legislation

·         Contributing to the development of the advocacy and outreach programs

·         Mentoring advocates at Call-on Congress

·         Guiding the agenda for Call-on Congress

 

Meet Belle, Michell and Patti!

This year, the GAC is adding three wonderful women to the squad.

Belle

Belle Piazza is a stage III rectal cancer survivor diagnosed in October 2007 (27 of 38 lymph nodes were positive.) Belle just happens to be Miss February 2012 of The Colondar. She underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. In 2011, she had a recurrence in her lungs and lymph nodes and is now on “chemo for life.” As a patient who fights for answers, Belle met up with Fight Colorectal Cancer for the first time in 2012. After her late friend, Pat Steer’s, encouragement to attend Call-on Congress, she traveled to Washington DC from the Portland area with her family. She enjoyed Call-on Congress and jumped at the opportunity to get involved on the planning level. As an organizer and planner, Belle looks forward to serving as a resource for anyone who is new to Fight Colorectal Cancer and showing others how to get involved in the fight – either in DC and/or at home.

Michell

Michelle, left, with her two sisters.

Michell Baker is a 5-year veteran of the Call-on Congress. She and her two sisters looked for a way to get involved after their dad, Steve, passed away from colorectal cancer in 2008 at age 56. Struck that colorectal cancer is a preventable disease, the Baker sisters, from Oregon, have met with their representatives every March since 2009 and pushed for funding, research and colorectal cancer policy. This year, Michell is excited to get involved even more through the GAC. As the Executive Director of the Steve Baker Colorectal Cancer Alliance, she is excited to help plan the 2014 Call-on Congress and lead more advocates to become part of Fight CRC’s One Million Strong through local and national participation.

Patti

Patti lost her husband Harry to stage IV colorectal cancer just two days after Christmas in 2006. Starting in 2008, she attended the Call-on Congress and has made it her personal mission to carry on her husband’s memory and give meaning to his life and battle with colorectal cancer. She first got involved with Fight Colorectal Cancer after receiving helpful information and support from the ACOR List Serve and has since formed many close bonds within the group. A trained nurse from Pennsylvania, she changed her focus from critical care to oncology nursing in 2010 and now spends her time helping patients as an Oncology Nurse Navigator. Her mission is to spread awareness about CRC screening and support research whenever and wherever possible. In her own words, she “will not rest until CRC is as extinct as polio.”

The 2013-2014 GAC

Belle, Michell and Patti join a great group of committee members who’ve been leading the charge when it comes to colorectal cancer advocacy. The other GAC members include:

·         Rose and Eric Hausmann (committee chairs)

·         Josh Wimberly

·         Pam Seijo

·         Tom Fueller

·         Jennifer Bretsch

·        Elaine Newcomb

Are YOU interested in joining GAC?

Each GAC member is selected through a nomination process and serves a one-year term (that may be renewed or extended.) If you’d like to know more about how to Fight with Us, please contact us!

The 2013 Call-on Congress will be big. Over 80 colorectal cancer advocates plan to attend. Presentations and exercises make for a full agenda. Our legislative priorities will be heard!

But, what if you cannot be in Washington DC with us next week?

Big news – we still NEED your help.

United Behind a Cure – Call-in on March 20

Next Wednesday, Fight Colorectal Cancer will join with other colorectal cancer groups to sponsor the United Behind A Cure Congressional Call-in.

While our team of advocates meet with their representatives on Capitol Hill, we need YOU to call and make your voice heard. By calling in, you magnify our message and the power of our advocates on Capitol Hill.

Here’s the scoop:

Please call this number:

1-866-615-3375

It will connect you with your member of Congress. Please tell them:

You support H.R. 1070, a bill in Congress that will cut out copays for screening colonoscopies when polyps are removed.

Your call could make colonoscopy screening available to millions.

Need a reminder?

Click here to add a reminder to your calendar and join our Facebook event.

Help us make sure every person in Congress is aware of colorectal cancer on Wednesday!

Want to know more?

Take a peek at our 2013 Advocacy Handbook…

Join One Million Strong

We continue to recruit people to take the pledge and become part of One Million Strong. Those who pledge make a difference in the fight against this disease. Please help us:

• Share the pledge with your friends and family, encourage them to join us!
• Talk about the pledge on Facebook
• Tweet about the pledge using hashtag #1milstrong and @FightCRC
• Take a look at the One Million Strong Toolbox

Together – let’s make a difference.

There are over one million colorectal cancer survivors in the United States.

Let’s share our stories and get behind a cure for this disease.

We gave you a small taste of what happened on Friday.

But today we’ll give you more!

THANK YOU to everyone who promoted our One Million Strong Kickoff – either in NYC or from a distance.

Remember – you can still take the pledge to become a part of One Million Strong.

Get Behind a Cure.

WARNING:  Awesomeness ahead – get ready for this!

Success:  One Million Strong – Times Square Kickoff

We made quite the “splash” for the colorectal cancer community. Just take a look:

Extra, Extra… There’s a 20-foot Colon in Times Square! [press coverage]

Turns out ladies and gents of the news media couldn’t resist a giant colon sitting in Times Square, either. Take a look at some of the fun media exposure we received so far!

• ABCNews.com – Colorectal Cancer Month Kicks Off with Giant Inflatable Colon in Times Square
• Metro NY – pre-event features!
• Good Morning America - anyone see our advocates in the crowd and the TWO “plugs” for our Times Square event?
• Nationally syndicated press release from Fight Colorectal Cancer & Bayer
• ESPN: Quillin joins fight against colorectal cancer. WBO middleweight champion Peter Quillin, helps kick off a campaign called “One Million Strong” on Friday at the NASDAQ MarketSite in Times Square.

No war is fought alone… [sponsors of the event]

Of course, none of this would be made possible without awesome sponsors. We cannot say thank you enough to these organizations for making this event happen!

• Bayer Healthcare (main sponsor)

And – our NASDAQ Billboard sponsors:

• Bayer Healthcare
• Board member DAVID WICKS who gave the opportunity for us to be on the NASDAQ and Reuters boards.
• Genentech
• Given Imaging
• Quicken Loans
• Aquacai Water
• Boston Scientific

And… our community partners. You all rock!

• Prevent Cancer Foundation & the Prevent Cancer Super Colon
• The Colon Club‘s Board of Director, Debbie Donovan, who helped with our social media efforts
• Profile Barber Institute’s CEO and owner, Rodrick Samuels, was our Master of Ceremonies and sponsored our graffiti art mural
• Leighton Jacobus, medical student and artist
• Devin James, CEO of Devin James Group
• Micky Kerwick and the team at LuluLemon Atheletica, who lead our yoga classes
• James Darling, who lead our fabulous dance party
• Peter “Kid Chocolate” Quillin who is the current Middleweight Champion of the World
• Canvas Commercial Media Group
• Sky and Livi, Founder & CEO, Anjanette Dienne Sinesio came to present her signature awareness bracelet for the picture of the day winner

Excuse Me Miss – We Need your Pledge! [numbers from Times Square]

We met TONS of people during our Time Square event! Official counts are coming in, but so far:

• Over 500 people walked through the Super Colon!
• Over 400 people made the One Million Strong Pledge!
• THOUSANDS of flyers, hats, t-shirts, bags and stickers promoting One Million Strong and colorectal cancer awareness went out among New York City!

The Tweets Read Across the world [social media success]

Not only did those in NYC feel the excitement, those in the Twitter-verse and on Facebook also felt the excitement! Just look at what ONE DAY on social media stirred up:

• 168 NEW FACEBOOK FANS! Our posts reached at least 43,717 people!
• Our #1MilStrong hashtag had the potential exposure of reaching 98,823 people!
• On Friday, March 1, 351 tweets about #1MilStrong and #ColonCancer awareness, reaching 371,280 Twitter users
• On Saturday, Sam Champion of Good Morning America (over 130K followers) and the band Lady Antebellum (over 200K followers) followed suit by tweeting information about colorectal cancer awareness month kicking off in March; reaching another 300k Twitter users.
• Reuters’ medical journalist, Andrew M. Seaman tweeted about the Super Colon:
  

  @andrewmseaman:  I think I passed a giant colon in Times Square on my way to work this morning. Looks like @FightCRC has something to so with it.

• Trade publication, Gastroenterology and Endoscopy News (@gastroendonews) joined One Million Strong:
  

  @gastroendonews I just joined 1milstrong in the fight against colorectal cancer! pledge today at http://crcmillionstrong.org 

• Lady Antellebum helped bring some awareness to our big day!
  

  @ladyafans: RT @FightCRC: Charles Kelley of @ladyantebellum in our #1milstrong PSA as it plays in Times Square http://t.co/lTt5t8eYNY

• New York Presbyterian Hospital tweeted about the Super Colon:
  

  @nyphospital: Spotted in @timessquarenyc: @fightcrc’s #supercolon. #coloncancerawareness #1milstrong http://t.co/Tu6kEbfG1n

• Kid Chocolate (Professional Boxer) tweeted about One Million Strong:
  

  @KIDCHOCOLATE: I luv a good fight! I joined #1MilStrong 2 fight #ColorectalCancer! Meet me 4 pics&autographs #FridayMarch1st in #TimesSq3PM w/ @FightCRC

See for yourself [event photos & videos]

Last but not least – see for yourself. We’ve got great photos and videos that captured the entire day.

• Check out our Flickr stream
• Watch videos on Vimeo

Thanks again to everyone who made Times Square come alive with colorectal cancer awareness!

We are One Million Strong!

Early morning with our advocates telling all GMA viewers about One Million Strong!

Whew! What a day!

We’d say our Times Square kickoff was a hit!

• We learned new moves.
• Our PSAs ran on NASDAQ boards.
• We met amazing people.
• The GMA show promoted our cause.
• We saw amazing abs.
• We did yoga in Times Square.
• We let the world know about COLORECTAL CANCER and ONE MILLION STRONG.

Thank you again to our main sponsor, Bayer Healthcare, for our One Million Strong Times Square Kickoff and Fight Colorectal Cancer board member David Wicks who gave us the opportunity to show our PSA on the NASDAQ boards!

Enjoy a few highlights of our event in NYC today.

More to come on Monday…

Photos from Times Square One Million Strong Kickoff

Colorectal cancer info table (photo by @tsakchua)

Prevent Cancer’s Super Colon in Times Square

Times Square fun during our One Million Strong kickoff! (photo by @annazjay)

We are strong… he is too!

GMA and Today show signs showing we are strong!

Times Square Yoga! (photo by @fabulousmady)

Kid Chocolate joined the fight against colorectal cancer!

Ready to show the world we are strong! (photo by @Kerranna)

Thanks to Aquacai for the water! (photo by @michaelsola)

Survivor Jovannie won our pose of the day! (photo by @DevinJamesGroup)

Charles Kelley’s spot playing in Times Square

Thanks to the Hard Rock for a great lunch!

Yoga stretching…

What a crowd! (photo by @DevinJamesGroup)

PSAs playing on Times Square boards (photo by @devinjamesgroup)

Dora stopped by to support One Million Strong! (photo by @devinjamesgroup)

Yoga with Lululemon (photo by @devinjamesgroup)

Video of One Million Strong in Times Square

Rodrick Samuels Throws Dishes from Fight Colorectal Cancer on Vimeo.

Want MORE from Times Square!?!

What an amazing way to kick off One Million Strong in Times Square! Yoga classes, dance parties, Prevent Cancer’s Super Colon, celebrities and beloved children’s show characters came out to promote colorectal cancer awareness.

Thank you to everyone who joined us – either in person or online!

Don’t forget – take the pledge and become a part of One Million Strong!

If you’d like to see more coverage, check out a few of these sites:

• Videos from Times Square on Fight Colorectal Cancer’s Vimeo Channel
• Stories and feeds about One Million Strong on Storify.
• Check out the activity on the Fight Colorectal Cancer Facebook Page
• Read Fight Colorectal Cancer’s Twitter feed from the day!

Join us in Times Square on March 1!

What better way to turn on March’s spotlight to colon cancer than an event in NYC’s Times Square!

If you own a smart phone, tweet or use Facebook please join Fight Colorectal Cancer for our One Million Strong kickoff on March 1.

Live in NYC? Even better.

Click here if you live or work near NYC.

Click here if you live elsewhere but still want to help!

Read on to learn how YOU can show the world why YOU are part of One Million Strong.

Times Square. March 1. Be There.

Live or work in NYC? Our team at Fight Colorectal Cancer needs YOU!

Here is the roundup of activities planned for the One Million Strong kickoff on March 1 in Times Square. Come before work, during your lunch break, after work or anytime in between!

Come share your story. Bring a friend, too!

Please register for the Times Square events if you can volunteer or participate. (No costs involved… we need to know how many to expect.)

Sponsors…

A special THANK YOU to our event sponsor, Bayer, and board member David Wicks, Vice President of the NASDAQ MarketSite, for making our One Million Strong kickoff in Times Square a reality!

Not in NYC? Not a problem.

Even if you will not be in NYC on March 1, help us kick off colon cancer awareness month on March 1. Share your story. Speak up. Take action.

• Take the One Million Strong pledge.
• Use our One Million Strong Facebook cover photo.
• “Share” our flyer and encourage your friends and family in NYC to come out to the event!
• Download a Twibbon for your Facebook profile.
• Submit a photo for the One Million Strong Facebook Photo competition.
• Tweet at @fightcrc and use hashtags #1milstrong, #Coloncancer, #Colorectalcancer to get colorectal cancer awareness TRENDING!

About One Million Strong Campaign

Did you know over one million colorectal cancer survivors live in the United States? Our One Million Strong campaign raises awareness of colorectal cancer and encourages action.

We demand a cure!

Take a commitment to courageously raise awareness, be an advocate and encourage others to join the fight against colorectal cancer.

Take the pledge now!