A FOR-profit group out of Kansas City called Crawl for Cancer is putting on a bar or pub crawl at Laclede's Landing June 20th. This will be the third year for the event which has up to 250 teams of 10 pay $400 per team for 20 pitchers of beer per team. Some of the money (the group won't say how much) goes to area cancer charities.

The St. Louis Chapter for the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse is critical of the event and the organization Crawl for Cacner.

"We have a problem with that because it's irresponsible and I think we also have to look at what kind of message are we sending to our kids?" wondered Dan Duncan of NCADA.

This afternoon I emailed Crawl for Cancer for a response to the criticism. Around 5:45pm I got a call back from a guy from the group. I don't remember his name. I was about to finish up something for the 6pm news and couldn't write it down. Anyway, the conversation was quite entertaining. It went something like this.

Crawl for Cancer guy: "Yes, I'm calling you back."

Me: "Thanks. How do you respond to criticism you're encouraging binge drinking?"

CFC guy: "Oh I'm sorry. You didn't give us enough time to give you a response."

Me: "Well I've got you on the phone right now. You can give me your response and I'll paraphrase it on the news."

CFC guy: "Oh, no. I'll have to email it to you."

(I have no problem with that. People don't want to say something they don't mean to say on controversial issues. Putting it in writing gives people time to come up with the perfect message.)

Me: "Okay. That's fine. Well, we're going to do another version of this story at 10pm so you can email me a response and we'll report it at 10pm."

CFC guy: "No, I'm going to have to get back with you tomorrow. You didn't give us enough time."

That exchange speaks volumes. The fact four and a half hours isn't enough time for an organization to answer a crtiticism about what they do, tells me they don't really have an answer.

It will be interesting to see what they come up with tomorrow.

2 Comments

Denny Long said:

I think the criticism is unjustified. What kind of a message is it sending to the kids? What kind of message is it sending to the kids when a Leonard Little drives drunk and kills a woman and still keeps his high paying job? What kind of a message is it sending to the kids when professional athletes are arrested for drug violations and not fired?

As a two time cancer survivor and one who has lost many friends to this horrible disease, I applaud any effort to raise money for a cure. It's easy to be self righteous, until it happens to you!

May 28, 2009 10:16 AM

http://www.kmov.com/about/blogpics/schnyder.js said:

Denny,

I think the goal by critics is to keep the next "Leonard Little incident" from happening after the Crawl for Cancer.

I personally have lost two family members to cancer and support cancer causes throughout the year. The Crawl for Cancer does not appear to be a good one as it seems only a tiny fraction of the money raised goes to the cancer charity. The fact Crawl for Cancer won't tell the public how much money goes to the charity should be a huge red flag!

The Better Business Bureau says if you want to support a cancer cause, give to that charity directly and you might want to be sober when you do it.

May 28, 2009 12:21 PM

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