Gary M. Reedy is the volunteer chair of the American Cancer Society Board of Directors.

This week is the 40th annual National Volunteer Week, when many organizations honor and thank their volunteers, and call the public’s attention to the incredible difference volunteers make in communities nationwide. As a volunteer myself, I know well the value of this special sort of service to the American Cancer Society, to the many people who depend on our assistance, and to the individuals who are willing and able to volunteer their time.

I began volunteering for the Society 12 years ago, when a professional colleague presented me with an opportunity to join the ACS Foundation Board. From the very beginning I was hooked. The same friend who inspired me to get involved later lost her life to ovarian cancer, and some time after that I lost my sister-in-law at age 44 to non small-cell lung cancer. I continue to volunteer with the Society so I can play a part in ensuring that others will not be affected by cancer the way my family and friends have been.

Even an organization with more than three million volunteers still has room for more. And as we are only a few weeks away from celebrating our 100^th birthday, there has never been a more exciting time to volunteer at the American Cancer Society. While we’ve seen substantial progress against cancer, there is much more work ahead of us as we strive to make this cancer’s last century. If you are not yet a Society volunteer, then I am asking you to consider getting involved in our effort to finish the fight. Everybody can make a meaningful contribution. There are so many different ways to help:

• Make the fight local. The Society is active in more than 5100 communities nationwide.
• Participate in a Relay For Life® event, where we walk the track all day and all night to raise funds and awareness. Find an event in your community and sign up at RelayForLife.org.
• Support the Society’s fight against breast cancer by walking in a Making Strides Against Breast Cancer® event this fall.
• Volunteer to help people with cancer in your community by driving them to treatment appointments, cooking a meal for Hope Lodge® guests, or providing other forms of moral and practical support. Learn about these opportunities and more at cancer.org/involved.
• Speak up and tell your lawmakers that the cancer fight must be a top priority at home and around the world. The American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy affiliate of the American Cancer Society, encourages federal, state, and local leaders not only talk about fighting cancer but take real steps toward decreasing the number of people suffering and dying from cancer. For more information go to acscan.org.

• Make a donation to help save more lives faster.

• Become part of the American Cancer Society universe. Visit cancer.org/fight, like us on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter (@AmericanCancer) to stay up to date on many other opportunities available to join the fight.

As we kick off National Volunteer Week I want to thank my fellow volunteers for their invaluable dedication and hard work. You are the engine that makes the American Cancer Society what it is, and every single volunteer makes a real difference in helping us finish the fight.

Maria Blair is the Society’s national vice president, strategy.

In the western world, the deadly toll of cervical cancer has been greatly reduced because women have access to critical services for cervical cancer prevention, screening, and treatment.

However, in many parts of the developing world, cervical cancer is a leading cancer killer of women, causing devastating effects on families and communities. Out of the estimated 275,000 women who die each year from cervical cancer, more than 85% of these deaths occur in developing countries. By 2030, cervical cancer is expected to kill more than 474,000 women per year, at the prime of their lives.

We have the knowledge and tools to prevent unnecessary loss of life from cervical cancer. Recently, GAVI (the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations) committed to curb the threat of this disease. Through GAVI’s help, by 2020, more than 30 million girls in developing countries could have the opportunity to be immunized against the human papillomavirus (HPV), a common sexually transmitted disease that is the leading cause of cervical cancer.

Many women and girls around the world are faced with unnecessary and premature death from cervical cancer simply because of where they live. It is the role of civil society, together with our partners in the health, government, and private sector, to raise awareness about the impact of cervical cancer on women and girls in the developing world and to work toward eliminating the threat of this highly preventable and curable disease.

We need to accelerate adoption of the HPV vaccine, increase access to resource-appropriate cervical cancer screening, and increase global resources and attention to cervical cancer prevention and control. The Society-supported Cervical Cancer Action Report Card outlines current global and country efforts in combating this disease. We must ensure this disease is a priority at the global policy level, and that prevention and access to screening and HPV vaccines are included in national health plans.

This year the American Cancer Society will celebrate its 100th birthday as the largest voluntary health organization in the world, and we have made this disease a priority for our global work. In observance of International Women’s Day, we ask for collective voices to amplify the message that no woman should die from cervical cancer. The progress made during the past decades to address the global burden of this disease must be scaled up in the developing world to allow us to finish the fight against cervical cancer.

Together, we have an unprecedented opportunity and a moral obligation to change the course of this disease.

Last month our volunteer president, Vincent T. DeVita, Jr., M.D. began the countdown to the American Cancer Society’s 100^th birthday by emphasizing the incredible progress we’ve made in our ongoing efforts to save as many lives as possible. As we move closer to that milestone birthday I want to highlight another area in which your American Cancer Society is leading the way: improving quality of life for people with cancer and their loved ones.

Thanks in part to our work, 68 percent of people diagnosed with cancer in this country now survive at least five years. Ours is a culture that celebrates cancer survivorship, where the word hope – not fear – is associated with the disease. We’re working to transform cancer from deadly to treatable and from treatable to preventable. With that change has come the need to help people through many phases of life with cancer and after it. The Society provides help understanding the disease, living through the process of treatment and recovery, and emotional support throughout the journey.

We offer many programs and services to meet these needs, from providing the latest cancer information to rides or a place to stay during treatment, to assistance with appearance related side effects of treatment. We also provide emotional support, peer-to-peer mentoring, and a world class Patient Navigator Program®. Many more programs and services to fulfill specific needs are listed on cancer.org. Everything is coordinated at our truly unique National Cancer Information Center, which is the only cancer helpline where live specialists are available 24 hours a day, every single day, at 800-227-2345.

Of course as we focus on improving quality of life, our relentless efforts to prevent and treat cancer are always ongoing. I believe we can finish this fight once and for all. As the Society celebrates its 100^th birthday, we’re using this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rally people everywhere to help us put the American Cancer Society out of business.

With your help, we believe we can create a future in which all people who are diagnosed with cancer survive it. We’ve learned during our 100 years that cancer thrives on silence and complacency. Progress comes when we speak out, make noise and take action.

I sincerely hope I can count on you to join us on the next – and last – leg of this journey. We know that silence won’t finish the fight; only action will. And we believe together, we can make this cancer’s last century.

In 100 days the American Cancer Society will mark its 100^th birthday. I’ve been fortunate to be involved with the American Cancer Society for more than four decades, and I’m especially pleased to serve as its volunteer president during this milestone year. It is my privilege to start counting down to our centennial by looking back at what has been achieved, and looking ahead to the time when we will finish the fight.

By examining how far we have come in a century, we understand how much more progress we can make. I believe the future of the cancer fight holds nearly limitless possibility. You may, too, when you realize how much progress we’ve made.

When the American Cancer Society was founded in 1913, cancer was nearly a complete mystery. Champagne and carriage rides to distract from the inevitable were considered “treatment” options. The prevailing feeling was that there were few, if any, medical options. Indeed, for the entire first half of the 20^th century, surgery was really the only option, and only a minority of cancer patients could be cured by surgery alone. In the years that followed, the Society played a critical role in so many advances that allowed us to begin to truly understand cancer and to define the parameters of our effort to beat it.

To take stock of our progress, the 5-year relative survival rate for all cancers was 38 percent in the late 1960s. It is now 68 percent, and projections indicate it will rise to 80 percent by 2015. By wide margins, more people now survive cancer long-term. That’s truly incredible. What’s even more exciting is that most of the current declines we’re seeing in cancer incidence and mortality are the result of the widespread implementation of established technology for diagnosis, prevention, and treatment. We have hardly begun to see the biggest payoff – the clinical application of the extraordinary molecular revolution the National Cancer Act initiated in the 1970s. Research initiated years ago can and will help accelerate our progress.

The Society’s research program, founded in 1946, has funded more than $3.8 billion in cancer research and supported 46 scientists who would go on to win the Nobel Prize. Just a few examples of the impact the program has had read like a transcript of the major events in cancer history. With even more substantive support from key benefactors, we could see the Society’s research become even more expansive and generous, as I know this will lead to even greater progress sooner. Part of doing all we can to finish the fight means leaving no promising research study unfunded. We simply can’t leave lives on the table when the next study might offer groundbreaking clues to this disease.

But no matter how successful we become at treating cancer, prevention remains essential. The Society has contributed to or led several major pathways to success with prevention. We have learned so much about what can cause cancer, which has allowed us to take steps to reduce risk. A few of our key advances include:

• 1948 – Advocating for widespread adoption of the Pap test. This has resulted in a more than 70 percent decrease in death from cervical cancer in the US.
• 1954 – The Society’s Hammond-Horn study confirms the link between smoking and lung cancer. This study helped launch the tobacco control movement, drastically cutting smoking rates.
• 1973– Contributing funding to the effort to successfully demonstrate that mammography is the best tool for detecting breast cancer early.
• 1978 – Society funding played a vital role in groundbreaking research that led to the development of tamoxifen, a drug to treat breast cancer. It was approved by the FDA to prevent breast cancer in high-risk women in 1998.
• 1991- We learn that aspirin prevents colon cancer, based on the work of recently retired Society epidemiologist Michael Thun and colleagues, and drawn from the Society’s Cancer Prevention Study II.
• 2000 – The FDA approves the HPV vaccine to prevent cervical cancer, a discovery to which the Society contributed.

When I first got involved with the American Cancer Society in 1970, it was projected that cancer incidence and mortality would continue to go straight up through the year 2000 and beyond. Instead, mortality rates began to decline in the early 1990s, and have continued to drop to this day. This year we celebrated a 20 percent decline in cancer death rates since that time. We’re averting more than 400 cancer deaths every day – for a total of 1.2 million since rates began to decline. This once seemed nearly impossible.

These advances and others mean that when the volunteer leaders of the American Cancer Society meet, we don’t worry about whether we can make progress – we worry about accelerating our progress. It’s a much different challenge than those faced by previous generations of Society leaders. As one of those leaders, I believe we must do all that we can to more generously support research. It is what the public expects of the American Cancer Society when they invest in our mission.

This has been quite a century. Given what has already been accomplished, I think it’s possible to think of a world with much less cancer sometime in the next century. We are planning a future where cancer is controlled like never before – and we have proof that this goal is within reach.

I believe with what we’ve learned thus far – and what we will learn tomorrow – we will definitely have the tools to finish the fight against cancer. Together, we can make this cancer’s last century. We know that silence won’t finish the fight – only action will.

The global toll of cancer will continue to rise if where we live determines whether we live. Unfortunately, this is the reality for many people – especially women and girls – around the world. In the western world, the cervical cancer threat has been dramatically reduced thanks to widely available screening tests and vaccines. In developing countries, however, it is still a leading killer of women, often affecting many women in the prime of their lives – women who support families and are key economic contributors in their countries.

This project has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of lives each year. The new Cervical Cancer Action Report Card, released December 6 at the GAVI conference, states that if current trends continue, by 2030, cervical cancer is expected to kill more than 474,000 women per year. More than 85 percent of these deaths are expected to be in low- and middle-income countries. In sub-Saharan Africa alone, cervical cancer rates are expected to double. In fact, in Tanzania and other parts of eastern Africa, cervical cancer was the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death, according to the American Cancer Society’s Global Cancer Facts & Figures (2^nd Edition, 2011).At the GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations) Alliance Partners Forum currently under way in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, GAVI has just announced a new commitment  to curb the threat of this disease. With GAVI’s support, by 2020, more than 35 million girls in developing countries could have the opportunity to be immunized against the human papillomavirus (HPV), the leading cause of cervical cancer.

We must raise awareness about the impact of cervical cancer on women and girls in the developing world and work toward a future free of this highly preventable and curable disease. Prominent African women such as the first ladies of Tanzania, Zambia, and South Africa have made great strides in raising awareness of the devastating burden caused by cervical cancer. But more needs to be done via a multi-sector approach, similar to what we’ve seen in championing the control of HIV and other infectious diseases in the developing world. We must call on our government leaders to prioritize cervical cancer in their national development and health programs, and ensure that the necessary political and financial commitments are made and sustained. We must also work with and through civil society networks at the local, national, and global levels to accelerate adoption of the HPV vaccine for adolescent girls and increase access to resource-appropriate cervical cancer screening for adult women. These tools are critical “best buys” the global health community must invest in to save lives and end suffering from this disease that needlessly claims the lives of our mothers, sisters, and daughters.

Now more than ever, we have an unprecedented opportunity to prevent, detect, and treat cervical cancer, and it is time all women benefited from this knowledge. GAVI’s commitment to making the HPV vaccine more affordable and accessible to 57 of the world’s poorest countries is certainly an important step in the right direction. It’s time to recognize women’s health as a right, and not a privilege.

It is okay, even a good thing, to be a quitter – that is the key message of the 37^th Great American Smokeout. And thousands, perhaps even millions, of America’s 44 million smokers will do just that on November 15 – become quitters by putting their cigarettes away for that day, and hopefully, forever.

The Smokeout has been called many things – an iconic event, a cultural touchstone, a national tradition – but for millions of Americans, it is more than that. It is a life-saving event. Whether they stopped smoking on a Smokeout day, used Smokeout to think about stopping, or used it to gently urge a friend or family member to stop smoking or think about stopping, it has marked a positive, and long-lasting, turning point in their lives.

And the Smokeout has had, and continues to have, effects beyond the United States. Every year, other countries, such as England and New Zealand, have adopted “No Smoking Days” and, increasingly, the World Health Organization’s “World No Tobacco Today”, held on the 31^st of May each year, has been used by many of the 193 United Nations members to encourage smokers in these countries to be a quitter for the day, or longer.

There is little doubt that these Smokeout-style quit smoking days are very much needed. According to the recently-published fourth edition of The Tobacco Atlas, nearly 1.3 billion people – 20% of the world’s population – are current cigarette smokers, consuming nearly 6 trillion cigarettes every year. Since The Tobacco Atlas also reports that nearly half of these smokers would like to quit, or have tried to, the value and life-saving potential of events such as the Great American Smokeout become obvious.

The Tobacco Atlas also reports that resources to aid smokers in their quit attempts are scarce in many countries. So, Smokeout-style quit-smoking days can also be quite important in attracting media attention and focusing that attention on the need for governments and civil society to not only encourage smokers to quit, but also to provide means for them to do so, such as well-trained healthcare providers, affordable stop-smoking medications, and smoking quitlines – all measures required under Article 14 of the World Health Organization’s global tobacco treaty, the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.

As more and more measures are being enacted under this treaty which cause smokers to consider quitting, e.g. more widespread smokefree environments, higher cigarette taxes, the importance of Smokeout-like days which are set aside to focus attention on the enormous health, social, and economic benefits associated with quitting becomes greater. At the same time, there remain significant challenges to global tobacco control, including quitting, but none are insurmountable – despite the undermining efforts of the multinational tobacco companies – though they will require the focused effort of tobacco control advocates working together with governments and civil society to address them.

As these challenges are being addressed, let us pause and take the time today to applaud all those smokers who will take pride in being a quitter and participating in the Great American Smokeout. 

While cancer strikes people from all walks of life, some groups have disproportionately higher mortality and incidence rates.  Part of the American Cancer Society’s commitment to saving lives includes addressing the unequal burden of cancer experienced within certain communities. We believe that all individuals regardless of race, socioeconomic circumstances, or insurance status, deserve equal access to quality health care. We partner with community health workers and culturally diverse volunteers to provide culturally and linguistically appropriate outreach and education to empower and mobilize the community to access prevention and early detection resources. In addition, we collaborate with community health systems that ensure access to cancer screening resources and follow-up care.

Last week, I had the pleasure of touring several communities in South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Washington, DC, and Maryland where important work is being done to save lives from cancer.  Much of the work I witnessed is made possible through the generous support of the Walmart Foundation. In fact, the foundation has committed $4 million to support a total of 41 grants to disparities-related work through the Society.

In South Carolina, I met a team from the state’s Best Chance Network, which works to get socio-economically disadvantaged women screened for breast and cervical cancer.  I also dined with the volunteer leaders of the Society’s annual African American Men’s Health Forum held in Columbia, SC.  Wendell Price and Dr. Gary Bell have worked for several years to address cancer disparities facing black men. From there, my journey took me to the very rural Appalachia region of North Carolina.  I saw first-hand that those in rural communities face many health-related challenges, including disparities in cancer rates.  That’s where the work of the Society’s Community Health Advisors (CHAs) is critical.  These specially trained community members form a grassroots army aimed at saving lives from cancer through very effective community-based education approaches.  In addition to the CHAs, I had the opportunity to speak with leaders in the medical community there and gained an appreciation for how impactful our partnerships with them can be.

While in the Baltimore – Washington, DC area I met student volunteers at Morgan State University who are implementing the American Cancer Society’s Active For Life program on their campus. In the nation’s capital, I got a glimpse of the work we’re doing with the Mexican Consulate on the program “Ventanilles de Salud,” which reaches Hispanic audiences with key cancer interventions and education.

The last leg of my trip took me to the Southeastern Virginia, where the city of Portsmouth has one of the highest breast cancer mortality rates in the country. I attended the community’s annual American Cancer Society Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk where I met another group of community health advisors who are working to encourage larger numbers of African American women in their community to get recommended mammograms.  While there, I attended services at Portsmouth’s Ebenezer Baptist Church and Grove Baptist Church, both of which are active in the Society’s work in what we call the “Portsmouth Partnership to Beat Breast Cancer.”  I also had the opportunity to recognize Grove as a flagship sponsor of our Making Strides Against Breast Cancer initiative.

It was inspiring to personally experience some of the incredible work the American Cancer Society is doing to address disparities.  It warmed my heart to see passionate people coming together and working to save lives in their community.  I’m proud that similar work is being done all across the country. Many thanks to the Walmart Foundation for helping us further our mission to eliminate disparities and save lives.

As a radiologist specializing in breast imaging and an American Cancer Society volunteer for many years, I have a unique perspective on life-saving early detection with mammography and the extraordinary role of the Society in breast cancer care. Over the years, I have had to tell many women that they have breast cancer, and the Society has always been there for them. Today, one of every two women newly diagnosed with breast cancer reaches out to the Society for help and support. In every community, we provide free information and services–when and where it’s needed.

Doctors know that when found early rather than late, breast cancer is much easier to treat, and the chance of survival is significantly greater. The Society has helped translate this knowledge into action that has improved and saved many lives by increasing public awareness of breast cancer, developing screening guidelines, and providing clinician education programs. For years, the Society has recommended that women begin screening at age 40 with yearly mammography and clinical breast exam.  Largely due to screening and improved treatments, the breast cancer death rate has decreased by over 30% since 1990 and will approach a 40% reduction by 2015.

Although screening mammography is very effective in reducing breast cancer deaths, it does have limitations. Mammography detects most but not all breast cancers early.  A clinical examination and breast awareness are part of the screening process for women at average breast cancer risk.  If you have a strong family history of breast and/or ovarian cancer, genetic testing may be appropriate to determine if you have a gene mutation that places you and possibly a member of your family at a higher risk of developing breast cancer.  Additional imaging with ultrasound and/or MRI in addition to mammography may be recommended for those at high risk.

While we do not yet know how to prevent breast cancer, research supported by the Society suggests how a woman may reduce her breast cancer risk by:

• Maintaining a healthy body weight throughout life,
• Engaging in moderate to vigorous physical activity, and
• Reducing alcohol intake to no more than one drink per day.

For women diagnosed with breast cancer, the Society is ready to help around the clock in communities nationwide. The National Cancer Information Center (1-800-227-2345 or cancer.org) is staffed 24/7 with specialists who answer calls and e-mails and monitor chat room discussions.  They assist patients and caregivers with information requests and service referrals.  We provide emotional support for the newly diagnosed both in person and online, transportation assistance to and from treatment, free lodging if treatment is far from home, free wigs and help with treatment-related side effects, and tips, tools, and resources for nutritional needs during treatment, recovery, and survivorship.

The Society passionately fights back against breast cancer through Making Strides Against Breast Cancer –the largest network of breast cancer events in the nation, uniting more than 270 communities to fund the fight. The walks are 3-5 miles and the walkers raised more than $60 million last year to find cures and save lives. In addition, through the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN), our nonprofit, nonpartisan, advocacy affiliate, breast cancer remains a top priority for our nation’s lawmakers. Through ACS CAN, we support federal legislation that will increase access to treatment for breast cancer patients and quality of life for survivors. Moreover, ACS CAN has lobbied Congress for continued support the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program (NBCCEDP). This program helps low income, uninsured, and underinsured women obtain access to screening and treatment and has provided over 10 million screening exams to four million women, finding more than 52,000 breast cancers. Finally, ACS CAN urges Congress to robustly fund breast cancer research that will improve prevention, detection, treatment, and survivorship.

The American Cancer Society has played a role in nearly every major breast cancer breakthrough in recent history and will continue the work until the disease is defeated.

This coming week I’ll be in Montréal, where I am so proud to be representing the American Cancer Society at the 2012 UICC World Cancer Congress.  Society staff, volunteers, and executives will spend several days working with other health leaders from around the world to keep cancer at the forefront of the global agenda. This biannual meeting comes at a time when we’re seeing a good deal of progress in laying the groundwork for a coordinated global response to the rising burden of cancer and other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs). But we must do more.

Despite our efforts, cancer incidence is growing globally. There are about 12 million new cancer diagnoses around the world annually, and that number is expected to grow to more than 22 million in 2030, with the greatest burden falling on low- and middle- income countries. This tsunami of cancer will devastate the developing world in the next 20 years if we do not act. I believe we have a moral imperative to address this challenge now, and efforts such as the World Cancer Congress and last year’s United Nations High Level Meeting on Noncommunicable Diseases represent our best chance to act.

The World Cancer Congress brings together the international cancer control community to find solutions to reduce the impact of cancer on communities around the world. It is hosted by the Union of International Cancer Control (UICC), a long-time partner of the Society in the global fight against cancer, and an organization I served as volunteer president from 2002-2006.

The Society will take a highly active and visible role this coming week. We will emphasize the need for continued support and momentum in translating the benefits of knowledge gained through research and practice to those affected by cancer around the world. We must share what we have learned, and increase access to prevention, control, and palliative care.

Other highlights of our involvement:

• Our experts will address diet and cancer risk, access to pain medications, and ways to use social media to educate people.
• We will introduce delegates to the Global Relay For Life program and demonstrate how it can benefit individual communities, as well as make a global impact in the fight against cancer.
• We are leading a session on the power of advocacy.
• There will be an all-day training for Society grantees, where we will share best practices and  identify opportunities for action.
• The “Global Village” expo will feature a large Society booth at which conference attendees can learn about our global work, share stories about the fight against cancer through a video booth, and sign up for our global social communities.

I will be tweeting updates throughout the week from @AmerCancerCEO. More information about the conference can be found at http://www.worldcancercongress.org

By John R. Seffrin, chief executive officer  

With our mix of grassroots events, patient and family services and support, and our decades-long investment in cutting edge research, the American Cancer Society is truly the embodiment of, “Think globally, act locally.” And nearly all of our work is made possible by our volunteers.

Each of our more than three million volunteers is essential to our mission of creating a world with less cancer and more birthdays, but today I want to honor a woman who has been part of the Society longer than anybody else, and whose contributions have helped make the American Cancer Society what it is today. Margot Freudenberg, the American Cancer Society’s longest serving volunteer, and founder of Hope Lodge, is celebrating her 105^th birthday today.

In 1970, Mrs. Freudenberg, who began volunteering in the 1940s, founded the first American Cancer Society Hope Lodge in Charleston, South Carolina. Hope Lodge provides a free, temporary place to stay when cancer patients and their caregivers have to travel far from home for treatment. Today there are 31 American Cancer Society Hope Lodge locations in 22 states, and more are planned. By providing free lodging, the Hope Lodge network saves cancer patients tens of millions of dollars a year, and makes more and better treatment options accessible for people, no matter where they live in the world. With a major financial burden removed, Hope Lodge guests truly can focus on getting well.

Mrs. Freudenberg’s personal story is as remarkable as her immeasurable contribution to making life easier for cancer patients and their families. She was born and raised in Germany, where she trained as a physical therapist, married, and started her family. She and her husband and young son endured the Nazi era until they escaped to England in 1939. They arrived in Charleston in 1940, where they were welcomed by Margot’s sister, who had settled there.

In a time when it was not usual for women to found businesses, she established her own physical therapy practice. It was also in Charleston in 1940 that Mrs. Freudenberg began volunteering for the American Cancer Society and other organizations. She has said that community service was her way of repaying the kindness and help her family received in leaving Germany and starting over in a new country. On behalf of the entire American Cancer Society, I am so grateful she felt that way. Happy birthday, Margot.

To learn more about visiting or supporting the American Cancer Society Hope Lodge Network, visit www.cancer.org/hopelodge, or call 1-800-227-2345.