Mission Statement & Goals of the MNPCC. 2022.
“Minnesota Prostate Cancer Coalition is a 501 (c)3 tax exempt organization that formed in 02/2011 by prostate cancer survivors, whose mission is to enlighten, educate, support and advocate for MN men, and their caregivers as they face the prospects of diagnosis and treatment of Prostate Cancer.”
MnPCC is a start-up, grass roots, boots-on-the-ground Organization serving the at large Minnesota Community. We are in our infancy developmentally, staffed with volunteers, all of whom are prostate cancer patients or their caregivers.
It is very important to note that all of our Volunteers are living with prostate cancer themselves either as patients or caregivers. This gives us the authenticity and credibility to "walk the walk and talk the talk." We know of what we speak because every day of our lives, we face the fact that we have Cancer. Even when the Cancer may be in some form of "non-expression", all of us men know that we are just one PSA test away from a recurrence or the worsening of our condition. Hence we know the emotional pain, fear and uncertainty that accompanies a diagnosis of Cancer. Our empathy for our fellow Minnesotans with prostate cancer is real and palpable.
We educate, support and advocate for our constituency by leading two prostate cancer monthly support groups: one affiliated with the University of Minnesota and the other out of North Memorial Hospital in Robbinsdale, Mn. These two groups put us into direct contact with over 50-75 prostate cancer men and their loved ones every month.
We participate in Corporate Wellness Programs and offer information, guidance, support and contacts.
We have an active website devoted exclusively to prostate cancer as it relates to Minnesotans. Find us at MNPCC.org
We partake in several fund raising events for prostate cancer. We set up an information booth at these fundraisers and meet and greet all attendees. Here we hand out flyers, fact sheets, and ways to follow-through with any concerns people have.
All of these activities take time and monies. We want to make our services available and accessible to all Minnesotans no matter what one's financial status. The good news for MNPCC is that many Minnesotans support our cause financially. Prostate Cancer has real traction out there and we are very grateful for our benefactors and generosity of our fellow citizens.
We are on our way as an Organization and have a long way to go. Rest assured that we as living with prostate cancer ourselves, are committed to educating, supporting and advocating to the Minnesota Prostate Cancer Community statewide. We work at the grass-roots level of intervention, making personal contact with our fellow citizens; are real, open and honest with folks; and are committed to being of service. This personal and individual connection, "boots-on-the-ground" approach, is what makes us so special to our fellow Minnesotans facing this dreadful disease called prostate cancer
Another way to say all of this is to quote the Yananow.org website which states:
"To provide comfort to any man diagnosed with prostate cancer, to offer thoughtful support to him and his family and to help them to decide how best to deal with the diagnosis by providing them with and guiding them to suitable information, being mindful at all times that it is the individual's ultimate choice that the path he decides to follow is his own and that of his family, based on his particular circumstances."
MNPCC.org is a non-profit organization, registered with the State of Minnesota. It is also a 501 (c) 3 entity listed with the IRS which allows donations and fund raising that is tax deductible when filing tax returns.
Steven Roecklein, President. 5/1/2022
Contact: Steven Roecklein at sroecklein@mnpcc.org