2007 marked the second consecutive year that the actual number of cancer deaths fell – in spite of an aging and growing population. Incidence rates are poised to go down after remaining relatively stable for more than a decade and five-year survival rates continue to improve.

Nearly 1,000 volunteers participated in Indiana’s Lobby Day and Michigan’s Celebration at the State Capitol events. This year also marked the first participation of 39 Workplace Solutions companies in advocacy efforts, including their stories of how going smokefree reduced insurance costs to their companies. In Indiana, volunteers met with 89 members of the general assembly to ask for an increase in the state tobacco tax, leading to a 44 cent increase in tobacco taxes. In Michigan, participants met with 96 State Representatives and 35 State Senators to advocate a statewide smokefree air policy, a bill which passed the House of Representatives in December and currently sits in a Senate committee.

Two former ACS-funded researchers received the Nobel prize, bringing the total of ACS-funded Nobel prize winners to 42. In October, former ACS grantees Mario R. Capecchi, Ph.D, of the University of Utah and Oliver Smithies, Ph.D, of the University of North Carolina, along with Sir Martin J. Evans of Cardiff University in Wales, received the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine for discoveries that led to a technology known as “gene targeting,” which enables scientists to study specific genes involved in cancer and other diseases.

ACS launched Access to Care, an initiative which seeks to help all Americans gain equal access to quality health care. Uninsured and underinsured people are less likely to be diagnosed with cancer in an early stage, leading to higher fatality rates. Through this initiative, ACS hopes to help define what the country needs and encourage an open and productive dialogue about how to achieve it.

The Great Lakes Division led all divisions in Relay For Life growth with the participation of 21 new communities. Overall, nearly 200,000 participants raised more than $24 million in the Division this year, an 11 percent increase over last year.

Construction was completed on a new Hope Lodge in Grand Rapids. The lodge will open to guests in February 2008, and the new West Michigan Area Service Center at the site has already opened.

In July, the Division launched its Patient Resource Center, a specialized call center designed to centralize services to patients, caregivers, families, and the public.

A Division initiative of community outreach programs sought to address disparities, resulting in 30 new relationships within communities service disparate populations. Body & Soul, a wellness initiative designed for the African American church to emphasize and empower the church and its congregation to eat more fruits and vegetables and increase their physical activity for better health, is currently being implemented throughout Michigan: Detroit, Ann Arbor, Flint, Saginaw, Lansing, and Grand Rapids; and Indiana: Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Elkhart, and Bloomington.

In addition to these exciting accomplishments, the Great Lakes Division also provided valuable programs and services, such as Camp Catch-A-Rainbow, World Oncology Camp, the School Health Coordinator Leadership Institute, Road to Recovery, Reach to Recovery, and many more.

None of this could have been achieved without our dedicated volunteers and staff. Thank you for all you do to support the mission of the American Cancer Society. We look forward to a successful 2008!