March 2017We received some great compliments at the beginning of our call in March from many of our group leaders! They specifically appreciate these bulletin board notes in the event they are not able to make the calls. It helps to keep them in the loop on what is being discussed and helps them realize that we have a very strong, supportive and passionate network of leaders running our groups. Over 20 leaders joined us this month from various parts of the country!

Jerry Deans, Chairman of the Us TOO Program Committee shares, “One thing that distinguishes Us TOO from other prostate cancer organizations is the support groups. Thank you all for your dedicated service to Us TOO. It is clear from these calls that we are definitely making a difference for hundreds of men and their loved ones who are dealing with prostate cancer in their lives. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being part of this wonderful organization”.

Next month we will start having a “Topic of the Month” - Some suggested topics would be:• Leadership Transition – Possible help from Dan Bard, Jim Kiefert, Mike Gordon, Johnny Payne,

Bob Cardone, Steve Griffin.• Hold a webinar on how to navigate the Support Group Leader resource page.• How to get women and caregivers more involved in the group and to encourage starting more

groups specifically for caregivers.• How to get other free publications to hand out, in addition to the Hot SHEET.• Invite a marketing specialist to help us understand why breast cancer awareness has gotten so

big and why the NFL supports pink but not blue? Why do breast cancer events have such huge turnouts at their runs/walks and fundraising events?

• Training for Support Group Leaders and how to be a good mentor to a new leader.• If you have any suggestions for meeting topics, please share them with Terri at terril@ustoo.org.

How do you get those who do attend more engaged in the meeting and in the group itself?• Bob Sherman from New Jersey shares, “At each meeting, I ask the folks who attend to tell ME

something that I didn’t know about prostate cancer. This is fun and it encourages them to do some research on their own when tasked with that challenge.”

• Dune Kent from Atlanta says, “I ask them who they have talked to this month abut prostate cancer. This encourages them to talk and advocate for the disease, promotes more awareness and also makes them feel good about educating and helping others open up, who may not have before, about their own journeys. It is also a good way to encourage others to come to the group meetings.”

It was noted that some of the Us TOO educational materials for handouts are getting outdated.• Us TOO is aware of this and it was a topic at the last board meeting. Some challenges are that

the information changes so often and it is a financial burden on Us TOO to keep updating and printing new handout materials. Mailing costs for mailing hard materials are also very high.

• It is being discussed to have an electronic newly diagnosed kit to share so that updates will be easier to make and there would be no shipping costs.

• “News You Can Use” is always up-to-date with the latest on what is happening with treatments, new drugs and other hot topics in the news. Suggest to those who attend your group to opt-in to receive these emails by going directly to this Us TOO link to register: www.ustoo.org/Find-News-You-Can-Use

• The Hot SHEET is still a valuable resource with current information.

April Calls will be Held: Tuesday, April 11 at 10:00 CENTRAL

and Thursday April 20 at 3:00 CENTRALCall in number 1-866-906-0123 – Code – 9368258#