Caught in the Crossfire

Members of the Breast Cancer Club at Scarsdale High School were caught in the crossfire last week when they held a fundraiser in the wake of the controversy about the Susan G. Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood. Club Presidents Danielle Berger and Rachel Brief were in the midst of planning the February 4th Breast Cancer Awareness Day at SHS when the news broke that the Susan G. Komen Foundation would no longer fund Planned Parenthood.

At the time, members of the club were in the process of soliciting local merchants for contributions for their raffle and found that some refused to donate because of the news. Though traditionally 100% of the proceeds from the event had been donated to the Susan G. Komen Foundation, this year, even before the controversy, the girls had decided to divide their donation between Komen and GOPiNK.

The Club proceeded with their sale of baked goods, bracelets, breast cancer pins and tickets for the raffle items they could get and held their sale during the game against Port Chester. The reaction that got to the raffle solicitation paled against the hostility they received from the crowd at the game. Berger was totally taken aback by the comments the sale incited, with some yelling at the girls and manyrefusing to support their efforts. The girls learned how passionate, and rude, the community can sometimes be.

They proceeded with the fundraiser but did not earn as much as they had in previous years – which could be attributed to the uproar over Susan Komen or to the fact that the Varsity game against Port Chester was not a big draw.

Pictured above: Danielle Berger, Jamie Kaplan, Jenna Karp and Rachel Brief