
Susan G. Komen for the Cure: the power of a new name and a re-ignited mission
by Nancy G. Brinker
Founder, Susan G. Komen for the Cure®
On a sweltering afternoon in July 2006, I found myself in a converted aircraft hangar at Dallas’s Love Field, getting ready to address a crowd of staffers, Affiliates, board members and special guests of The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, the advocacy and fundraising organization I founded 25 years ago this year.
We were all gathered at the Frontiers of Flight Museum, a place dedicated to the history of aeronautical ingenuity, boldness and courage. In the museum’s main exhibition hall, a billowing white tent had been erected, with seating inside for the 400 guests. They knew what they were gathered for. But they didn’t know what to expect. They knew big changes were afoot. When I took my place in the middle of the tent, the suspense had grown and the event had the feeling of an old- fashioned revival meeting.