Central WI Komen Affiliate Statement on Grant Funding

Komen Statement

Komen Central Wisconsin is not a political organization. We have never and will never choose a side in a political debate. We exist to meet a singular mission--to end breast cancer forever. It is our intent to administer a Community Grants Program that meets the breast health needs of women and men in our local community, to create greater access and to ensure quality of care. As such, today we wholeheartedly support Komen National's decision to reverse controversial grants language. This allows Komen Central Wisconsin to maintain control over granting decisions so we can ensure they best serve the needs of our local population.

We sincerely apologize to our loyal volunteers, Race participants, donors, sponsors and community partners for the confusion and distraction from mission during the past few days.

Komen Central Wisconsin serves Langlade, Lincoln, Marathon, Portage, Taylor, Wood and western Shawano counties. Since 2007, Komen Central Wisconsin has distributed more than $400,000 in local grant funds to organizations across our service region. We are currently reviewing grant applications for our 2012-2013 Community Grants cycle. We look forward to supporting community nonprofit organizations for their worthy projects that support regional breast health funding priorities.

Community Grant funds are raised right here in central Wisconsin, largely through the efforts of our wonderful third-party-sponsored events and, for the past two years, through our Race for the Cure. Without these dollars, there are no funds to distribute. Breast cancer is an indiscriminate killer of mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and friends. We hope we can continue to count on the support of our community so we can, in turn, continue to deliver our promise to provide breast health programming to the women and men of central Wisconsin.