39. Please Vote!

(from Teri's Blip)

If you had a chance to easily help Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered (FORCE) win $250,000, would you do it?

If like me, your answer is yes, then here is your chance. It won’t cost you a dime. All it takes is being a member of Facebook, and a vote for Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered as your favorite charity.

A campaign on Facebook called Chase Community Giving is going to be giving away a total of $5 million dollars to be split between 200 charities. The charity with the most votes will receive $250K, 4 runner-ups will receive $100K, and 195 charities will receive $20K.

FORCE is the only national nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the needs of and improving the lives of individuals and families affected by hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. They provide lifesaving information on the latest medical treatment and risk management, resources, and awareness.

Voting on Facebook starts todfay June 15, 2010 and the lucky 200 winning charities will be announced on July 13, 2010

What would FORCE do with the money if they won?

For starters:
$1,000 delivers the latest in BRCA research and information to 500 families.
$500 gives 60,000 visitors access to their website for one month.
$300 provides a scholarship to FORCE’s annual conference to one person that could not otherwise attend.
$200 provides life-saving information to 100 people through their newsletter.
$100 provides phone-based support and resources via the Helpline for one month.
$50 provides a package of informational brochures to doctor’s offices and hospitals.

Just think – if $2250 can do all of that – how much good could be done even if we only place among the bottom 195, and win the lowest amount of $20,000! That’s a whole lot of help, to a whole lot of people!

You may be asking yourself, “Why is this important?” Forsomeone who has a BRCA genetic mutation or HBOC, having an organization like FORCE on my side is invaluable. Without information and knowledge of what these genetic mutations mean, people can and DO die from hereditary breast and ovarian cancer.

Spreading information saves lives, and provides much needed peace of mind, education, and emotional support for those of us afflicted with this mutation.

If you are on Facebook then it’s very simple to vote. The first thing you do is go here:
http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving

The next step is to join the movement by scrolling down just a little bit on the page and clicking the ‘Like’ button.

Next step: Click the big green ‘Search’ button and copy this text: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered and paste it in the box that says ‘Charity Name.’

Click the big blue ‘Search’ button to the right of that.

After you click that, you’ll see Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered in blue lettering. Click it.

Scroll down and check the box that says: “Please display my name and profile picture below so this charity knows it can contact me to get more involved.”

Click ‘submit’. A ‘Request for Permission’ box will pop up. Click ‘Allow’.

Vote – and share (and share and share and share again) with your friends, and ask them to share with their friends, and so on. This is the key to getting the word out there, especially as we are only allowed one vote per person per charity.

* Reminder: While voting doesn’t begin until June 15th, you can go to the Chase Community Givingpage on Facebook and ‘like’ them at any time- just to give yourself a head-start.*