Looking back on Syracuse’s Go Red For Women campaign

Guest blogger Kim Townsend served as the chairwoman of the 2016 Syracuse Go Red For Women Luncheon

The last year as Chair of the Syracuse Go Red For Women Campaign has been one of personal growth for me. Following closely on the heels of Evelyn Carter’s record-setting campaign left me with very large shoes to fill. I was both excited and apprehensive about the challenge of the reaching the team goal of raising $340,000.

 

Behind the excitement was the opportunity to have a meaningful part in the exciting work that Go Red does nationally in empowering women to take control of their health. We know that heart disease is still the number one killer of women—more than any cancer. We know that 80% of all heart disease is preventable. But the fact that women’s deaths from heart disease have declined by 30% in the last 10 years, shows the incredible power of the Go Red campaign.

What we do makes a difference. And a movement like this unites us across our communities. Through the work of my exceptional Executive Leadership Team, we continued to push forward in involving more people into the work of Go Red in our community, and found new ways to offer healthy solutions to every area of our region. With the help of the great American Heart Association staff, we offered education, delivered training, held screenings, and offered events broadly to many businesses, churches, groups, and community organizations. Go Red is not only an initiative, it is a grassroots movement to improve community health.
And the goal…well, as in any good work, the goal tends to take care of itself. I am proud that through the efforts of many team members, we exceeded our goal, raising over $350,000 to improve the health and lives of women and their families.
It’s been a very good year of discovering what one organization, one team, and one community can do to make a difference. Thank you.