About the Canadian Cancer Society

Introduction

The Canadian Cancer Society is a nonprofit cancer charity in Canada and it funds cancer research in Canada. It is the largest charity in Canada for cancer. The organization originally was started in 1929 from the Saskatchewan Medical Association and formally introduced in 1938. The purpose of the Canadian Cancer Society is to educate the public on cancer about the warning signs, prevention, support, advocacy and research.

Fundraisers By The Canadian Cancer Society

The headquarters for the Canadian Cancer Society is located in Toronto, Ontario with national offices in Toronto and Ottawa. The Society has over 170,000 volunteers and 1,200 staff members. The Canadian Cancer Society operates several different fundraisers to raise money. Fundraising efforts began in 1956 with the use of giving out daffodils to send the message out about cancer awareness. This later led on to selling the daffodils for a profit of $1,200 in sales.

A popular fundraiser done by the Canadian Cancer Society is the Relay for Life. This is an outdoor event that is held in the many communities throughout Canada. The Relay is supposed to be noncompetitive and held over night. The Relay lasts for 12 hours involving 10 people taking turns doing various activities such as walking, wheeling around the track or running from 7 p.m to 7 a.m. One of the main events during the Relay is called the Survivors' Victory Lap. This is for those who have lost loved ones due to cancer.

The Cops for Cancer is another fundraising event done by the Canadian Cancer Society. It was first started in 1994 by a Sergeant Gary Goulet when he decided to snap a photo with a cancer patient. The Sergeant offered his support for the boy because he had been made fun of by his classmates. The boy was ridiculed because of his shaved head due to his cancer. Since than hundreds of police officers and public officials volunteer to shave their head in public in an effort to raise funds for cancer. The program has been able to bring in more than $32.8 million.

Money has also been generated for cancer research through the sale of an item called the thing-a-ma-boob which was introduced in 2005. The thing-a-ma-boob is a keyring that is made of four various sized beads with each bead representing a size of a lump a woman can detect in her own breasts.

 

Research Projects Funded By The Canadian Cancer Society

The Canadian Cancer Society has been able to help fund a few different research projects through the years. One such being the cobalt 60 unit in the 1950s. This has been used in treating patients with cancer tumors. This type of treatment is still being used nowadays. A successful treatment for Hodgkin lymphoma was discovered in the 1950s with vinblastine and finding the use of stem cells in transplants for bone marrow for the treatment of cancer in the 1960s.

Acting as an advocate for the public the Canadian Cancer Society has been helping by getting the government to pass public policies to prevent cancer and to help those who are already suffering with cancer.

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