Dear Editor,
We went to the American Cancer Society’s Celebration on The Hill in Washington D.C. It was a powerful and rewarding event. More than 10,000 people from across the country came together with the same goal … to convince everyone on Capitol Hill to sign a pledge to support increased funding for the National Cancer Institute and the national breast and cervical cancer early detection program.
More than 4,000 ambassadors were given appointments with all 435 representatives, 100 senators and five delegates. As of 6pm Sept. 20, 137 members of Congress had signed the pledge.
California Democratic Sen. Diane Feinstein spoke at the breakfast for the California delegates. What a great speaker. By the time she was finished speaking all 650 California ambassadors were ready to take on The Hill. Feinstein was the first to sign the pledge and later Sen. Barbara Boxer stopped by the California tent and signed as well. Our visit was with Rep. Richard Pombo. We represented Morgan Hill and there were six ambassadors from the Tracy area. We carried a very powerful message – signatures from 1,000 of his constituents asking for his pledge. He agreed to do everything he could to increase funding for both programs.
Standing directly in sight of the Capitol building was the “Wall of Hope,” a display of 5,000 banners from 50 states inscribed with simple messages such as “I miss you mom,” along with more than three million signatures. The message was clear, the task important and we accomplished our goals.
Linda Roma, Morgan Hill
