Ammo for Pinktober (suggesting alternatives)

go to Guidestar.com and you can find the info on spending for all charities.  You have to be a member to get some of it, but basic info shoudl be available to the public since it's all from tax documents.

I think this kind of info is really hard to find.  There's the basic info on charities at the above sites but besides that I don't think there is much. Which sucks.

And can I just say that I can't believe it's October? I'm not ready. I feel like I spend the whole month preaching or being preached to. UGH>

Melinda-I just can't believe it's going to be October!!!  WTF.  It is sooo true what our moms say about time going to fast when you get old.  I am just freaking flabergasted that it's going to be October.  I remember Christmas 2010 like it was yesterday.

That said, I find great enjoyment in rooting out ridiculous pink items.  I walk into a store and IMMEDIATELY I scan all things pink.  If I see something I rush over.  If it has a ribbon I emit a little squeal of joy.  Then i snap a picture and text it out to Tasha who immortalizes it on her blog.  

There is a pink tow truck with a big fat pink ribbon that takes up the whole hood driving around my area.  I have yet to catch it to take a pix.  but soon I will hunt it down and corner it and move in for the kill.  

but for now I am content with the pink ribbon eggs.  Opening every magazine and reading an article about someone that has had/will have/knows someone that did have or will have cancer, or just plain has breasts and might be interested in cancer.  

But most importantly, I am ever vigilant to make sure that no other rotten cancer peeps step on my toes.  october is mine, it's for the pink, and if you even THINK about pimping your gangs colors in my month, well, me and my homies will beat your ass with a pink bat and spit pink chocolates on your carcass.

So, while some of you dread the month, others of us are zealously guarding it.  It's like my birthday but better.  (although my birthday DOES fall in October).  and Mothers Day!  kind of rolled into one.  

anything I want, i can have or get.  Oh, look, massages for the cure.  see ya.  it's a constant reminder to my family that otherwise takes advantage of my overall goodness and consideration of other people that yes, I am once again the center of the universe.  (frankly, i can't believe they forgot it, but fuck em, I'm not above reminding them).  Everything is about me and only me.  If I want it and they have it in pink, bring it.  To bad I don't drink, but I think cosmo's are clearly for the cure. Now that I am half heartedly typing this, I am thinking, damn, this shit must piss my brother and sister OFF.   I have always been the center of the families attention, and not above a tantrum if I am not getting my way, I know, I know, hard to believe.  But then I go and get cancer.  And not just cancer, but the grand mammy of all cancers, the holy grail of attention and pink!  And although I am sure my family wouldn't wish ill on me (well, pretty sure.lol), I am sure they are thinking, oh, freaking great, it's October again, and we KNOW what that means.  yep, not just her royal highness's birthday, but every single day is about her.  geez.  and to make it even BETTER, it's not just October anymore!!  It's like Christmas, it's spreading it's alien tentacles into other months.  September is contaminated with pink.  My poor sister, her bday is in September and my pink took it over.  ha.  I spot pink year round.   Even the ice cream store is about me.  Yes, they have a pink ice cream just for my month.  all is right with the world. I see the cure everywhere I go.  My lip gloss is curing people right and left.  I feel like it's a little ray gun, I pull it out of the 2 buck kate spade handbag, apply and hear this light saber sound, whoosh whoosh, cancer is falling dead all around me.  Do you need slippers?  There are slippers for the cure everywhere!  Your feet will be warm and the cure will be with you.  I see the cure everywhere.  Well, everywhere but where we need it.   

I am beginning to suspect that whomever thought up mother's day, dreamt up pinktober.  I salute you, whomever you are.   way to take a perfectly good day/month and bastardize it into something obnoxious and well, gross.

Cassie...How about Avon?  Even Pure Romance (the one at the conferences) sells products with parabens!! YIKES! 

Damn Cori, very good points. I have to say that Tasha made me enjoy Pinktober way more last year. I looked forward to her blog posts and laughed hysterically at all of them.

I just emailed several companies selling pink ribbon stuff and told them I hope you are not trying to make a profit off of BC victims suffereing. I told them if they are actually donating money they need to focus on putting money towards a cure. Everyone is aware that BC exsists. I don't know if it would help but I felt I needed to give the companies a piece of my mind.

i love this thread. can i get the link to Tasha's blog? it sounds hilarious.

hating the pinkwashing too. picked up a prescription today - and realized, once home, it was sealed with....a pretty PINK cap. what the f#*@(?! i have half a mind to run into Walgreens tmw and chew them out.

i went grocery shopping today and saw that Milano cookies have the pink ribbon on them. hmm: saturated fat, waaaay too much sugar - yeahhh, that's a logical choice for a health issue.

othermother: oh no i love love lip gloss! why do our cosmetics have to be full of crap.

amidala: i laughed out loud at the kiss my ass comment.

j

I know you guys aren't metsters, but http://metavivor.org/ is a great small organization with a strong research grant funding mission.  Very little overhead.  And since it's mets that kills people...makes sense that maybe looking at the metastatic process is a good idea.

What about the young women who are refused mamos?  (Like me) I was told many times I'm too young to get cancer... the lump and blood will go away on it's own blah blah blah. It took 8 months  to finally get a diagnosis! My tumour was 8cm by then! and spread to my auxila and intercostal lymph nodes and my pectoral muscle!

SO, awareness is a biggy for me! Even the medical community is ignorant!

I agree most people are aware of BC, but there are too many ignorant people (men and women) who think they are so healthy, and will never get cancer?

Money is needed for screening programs, equipment, prevention, awareness, treatment and a cure!

I guess it all depends what you are passionate about and which orgs you will support.

I def. do not support anyone making a profit from this! If someone pinks up their product, they better be donating all their profits to the cause! Especially the companies producing poisonous products! Parabens, preservatives etc.

check out http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/

it's a health hazard database of popular cosmetics.

NannaBaby, I am right there with you. I'm all about clean personal care products, and all about transparency and integrity in breast cancer fundraising. And there's not enough of any of that. (I even have a blog about clean products, and cancer finds its way in just about every post.)

MJLToday, I'm with you, too. The "awareness" that we have is all focused around profit. Buying a product with a pink ribbon doesn't make anyone aware of anything, but people think they are informed because they've participated in some kind of fundraiser. (Meanwhile, most of the funds they've raised are for a Fortune 500 company, but whatever.) I am constantly stunned by how much people don't know about breast cancer. All of the hype surrounding October seems to be for the benefit of people who have never had breast cancer, and once you've been diagnosed you're a marketing tool. Facts? Nobody wants to hear any of that.  (Bitter? Noooo......)

This pink stuff is hard. I remember last year someone sent my daughter a large pink ribbon teddy bear. I mean, my mom had bc, I had bc, I know the person really meant well but did I need a reminder at Christmas that my then 3yo could get bc. It gave me chills to see her holding it, I had that 'disappear ' fast. I had this summery pink dress pre bc that I used to love. When I tried to wear it this summer I felt like a giant pink ribbon.

Also,you be surprised how unaware some people are.  I had to go the the ER at a local hospital to get fluids during chemo and the NURSE asked me why I was getting chemo for breast cancer if I didn't have breasts. Really!?

Carolyn