Well Rosie, it was a valiant effort, and while I still wish to speak to this in a future post, those of you that did come, gave me a very special gift, and touched me deeply with your comments.

There were 6,000+ emails sent out by Megan, and Lord only knows how many by those of you that really pushed for this. I would have to say that the response to this effort mirrors our fund raising efforts, and outreach for local events. I think it speaks more to people in general and human nature itself, more than anything related to OCF or cancer.

From here let's hope that people, as they feel moved to, will continue to post to great non profits when they have been helped. Those reviews will be helpful when strangers to us, consider us as a potential recipient of their philanthropy.

I think the important take away that was clear from the GNP postings is that the people, no the community of people who are the OCF family, who come and answer the questions, both simple and complex - both medical and emotional - are the backbone of the foundation, and its most valuable and prized resource.

Second, that while this message board function is without doubt the most important thing that the foundation can provide to those in need, it is clear that we have done a poor job of telling people the many other things that we do. From educate dental students through countless lectures at universities, lobby at the NIH (at the NIDCR and NCI), CDC, and contribute information to congressional committees and the FDA on matters related to the population we serve, and in support of those who suffer the burdens of the disease. We were the first to call for non gender based vaccinations for HPV at the FDA, and our lead was followed by many other better known organizations. That we give money to support research in the areas that are hot ideas in oral cancer today like HPV research, and early detection. That I spend a great deal of my time serving and working with other stake holders in the oral cancer issue, to name a few the boards/work groups I sit on and work with each month; the American Academy of Oral Medicine Oral Cancer Task Force, The College of Prosthetics Oral Cancer Work Group, The Centers for Disease Control Oral Cancer Task Force, The American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Prosthetics Oral Cancer Task Force, The American Academy of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Oral Cancer Task Force, (there are more but you get the idea), and that OCF is a primary information/backgrounder source and fact checker for numerous media outlets as it related to OC from the NY Times to the Wall St. Journal, besides being quoted and interviewed as a reliable and trusted source on the OC issue from a national standpoint in more print publications and TV stations than I can count. That we work with special cause efforts - like providing input to the Kennedy team on passing the recent Tobacco/FDA bill as advocates for part of the tobacco problem they had not considered (OC), that we disseminate more than a million public information "what you need to know about oral cancer" public awareness brochures a year through events and dental and medical offices. There is more to list here, but clearly I have not worked on telling people what we do behind the scenes, and people think that the website and this board are all we are. My failure to tell people about our activities has potentially not done good service to our growth opportunities. We haven't done enough press releases on much of what we have accomplished, because making time to toot our own horn, always seems to take second place to getting the important work actually done. This is what our lack of human infrastructure holds back, and of course that resource costs $.

But regardless of winning this or not, I could not be more proud of those of you that cared enough to make the effort. I hope that others will add to the significant base of comments that you have all built as time goes by.... because there is always next years ratings to work towards.

And those of you that have been the most vocal about making this happen, your passion has been extraordinary. The fact that we got this far was propelled in large part by your collective passion, and I thank you for that.