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Pilcher is ACS ambassador
From the Sept. 20, 2006 issue
Mary Nan Pilcher of Ellaville has been chosen by the American Cancer Society as an ambassador to the Society’s Celebration on the Hill. Ambassadors were scheduled to journey to Washington, D.C. to participate in the American Cancer Society’s Celebration
Mary Nan Pilcher presents plaques to Lewis Lightner (left) and John Gill.
Mary Nan will join thousands of other ambassadors from every congressional district in the nation advocating for cancer-related public policy issues. In addition to her participation in the Celebration on the Hill event, the selected ambassadors will serve two-year terms as legislative advocates for the society, participating in grassroots advocacy efforts to positively influence public policy at the local, state and federal levels.
Mary Nan works with the Georgia Department of Education, School Nutrition Program as a business analyst. She has been active in the local Relay for Life for Schley County since 2002. She has traveled to the Georgia Capital to lobby for the Smoke Free Air in Georgia. Mary Nan traveled to Washington in 2002 as an ambassador for the first Celebration on the Hill and met with Congressmen to encourage more funding for cancer research.
Increased funding for research through the National Institutes for Health and expanding prevention, detection and treatment programs, particularly the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program with be the focus of this year’s trip to Washington. Mary Nan is a five-year survivor of breast cancer. She has a sister that will be celebrating her five-year mark later this year. Mary Nan’s husband, Sammy, is also a cancer survivor.
The Relay for Life in Schley County focused around a Banner of Hope. Many local people put their signature on this banner. Many Schley County children signed this banner. What better way to tell the people in Washington and the world than through the voices of our children? After all, we do not want the children to ever have to worry about this dreaded disease.
The Banner of Hope was sponsored by Wrapit, president Lewis Lightner, and Central Bank of Georgia, president John Gill. This banner is already in Washington along with many more from across the United States. It will be compiled into one Wall of Hope monument on the National Mall. It will take 37,000 pieces of steel scaffolding to build the monument. It will take 20 tractor-trailers to deliver the steel. Construction of the monument will begin 13 days
“Schley County may be a very small place in this world; however the voice of its children and its people will be heard,” said Mary Nan. “ My thanks go to Central Bank of Georgia and to Wrapit for making this possible.”