Susan G. Komen For The Cure Benefit Has People Talking About Its Controversy
A day of balloons, face painting, and shopping, but mostly, “Awareness. People need to be aware. Go ahead and have you cancer checkups,” Pam Gaspar said.
A local events coordinator won a Marie Claire contest to host a benefit for Susan G. Komen For the Cure at the Saguaro Hotel in Palm Springs.
“I don’t think a lot of us are aware that there are options for us for screening through all avenues,” Elayna Garcia-Freiberg, the contest winner, said.
A great turnout of supporters focused on the day’s fundraising efforts, but people also had a lot to say when asked about the organization’s recent decision to restore funding for Planned Parenthood.
“I don’t think it should have been (restored). I don’t think we should be an advocate of that. It should be an individual choice to have available, but I don’t think we should be politically involved with it,” Gaspar said.
Just weeks ago, Komen withdrew it’s financial support to Planned Parenthood, because it was under government investigation. Most notably, a probe launched in Congress at the urging of anti-abortion groups. The change meant a cut-off of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants mainly used for breast exams. After three days of controversy the foundation reversed it’s decision.
“If they hadn’t done it, they would have lost so many sponsors and so many contributors and so many donations, how could you not do it?” Michelle Butin said.
Butin said she’s thankful she can still support the foundation.
“At the time I thought, ‘I don’t know if I’ll ever participate in anything again’, but when they put it back, I thought, ‘Oh, that’s OK,'” Butin added.
When asked about Komen’s decision to restore funding, someone with the foundation had this to say:
“Komen has come out with some response to those things and we’ll be happy to discuss those issues. So if anyone has some questions or concerns, they’re more than welcome to contact our office directly,” Sarah Bryan with the Inland Empire Komen For The Cure said.
That statement, found on Komen’s website said:
We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives… We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize planned parenthood. they were not… We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of planned parenthood.
Despite the controversy, the women at the event say they want the focus to remain on the good the Komen foundation does.
