In her Dec. 22 examination of retailers who offer their customers an option to give to a charity, Tribune staff reporter Nara Schoenberg writes that the practice “breeds cynicism and resentment.”
I respectfully disagree, both as a consumer and as a public health official.
As a consumer, I view such solicitations as a welcome reminder that members of our business community are actively engaged in making our world a better place.
As commissioner of the Chicago Department of Public Health, I support the practice because I see the results.
I could describe any number of retailers who work to make Chicago a healthier and better place. But since Schoenberg used Dominick’s as an example, so will I.
Every October, Dominick’s Finer Foods employees raise funds to fight breast cancer. They gently but consistently solicit at their check stands, and they lead by example when they dig into their own pockets to contribute.
They may not think of themselves as heroes, but I assure you that they are, because I know the stories of the people whose lives are changed by the $400,000 Dominick’s raises each year. These women are mostly middle-age. They are of all races and ethnic backgrounds. These women are daughters, sisters, mothers and, in some cases, grandmothers.
They have one other thing in common. These are women of limited means who can’t afford to pay for a mammogram or related breast health services that can save their lives.
Thanks to Dominick’s employees, these women, about 200 of them, received free mammograms and related services in 2006, through Health Department clinics and other providers across the city. Any time you administer mammograms to 200 women at risk, you will find breast cancer. That’s the bad news. The good news is that a mammogram detects breast cancer in its earliest and most treatable stage, the stage at which survival rates are highest.
It is accurate to say that these women would not have gotten a mammogram, were it not for the employees of Dominick’s. Therefore it is not an exaggeration to say that Dominick’s annual Breast Cancer Awareness Month efforts will, directly or indirectly, save the life of someone’s daughter, or sister, or mother, or grandmother.
