Roseanne Roseannadanna and other memorable “Saturday Night Live” characters created by comedian Gilda Radner are not part of the cultural literacy of young people in 2012. And that’s a main reason Gilda’s Club Madison is changing its name, effective in January.
“One of the realizations we had this year is that our college students were born after Gilda Radner passed, as we are seeing younger and younger adults who are dealing with a cancer diagnosis,” said Lannia Syren Stenz, the club’s executive director.
“We want to make sure that what we are is clear to them and that there’s not a lot of confusion that would cause people not to come in our doors,” she said.
The national organization is phasing in the new name, Cancer Support Community, Stenz said, and the Gilda name will slowly go away.
The Madison club — Cancer Support Community Southwest Wisconsin — is the fourth affiliate to make the change.
The organization, which was established in Madison in 2008, provides emotional support, cancer education and wellness activities for cancer patients and their families.
The formal name change announcement will take place at 5:15 p.m. Thursday with a ribbon cutting and grand reopening celebration at the Cancer Support Community clubhouse, 7907 UW Health Court in Middleton.
Al Falaschi, the founding member of Madison’s venerable funk combo Phat Phunktion, whose wife died of cancer in 2009, will provide music at the event.
Community supporters interested in attending need to RSVP to rsvp@gildasclubmadison.org.
Visit gildasclubmadison.org or call 828-8880 for more information.
Historically, the Gilda’s Club worldwide organization, based on the East Coast, and the Wellness Community, where Radner got support on the West Coast after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer in 1986, slowly grew together.
The new name, Cancer Support Community, “really says what we do very clearly,” Stenz said. “When you hear Gilda’s Club, if you don’t know what that means, you may not come to us.”
Another factor is that Gilda’s Club Madison is located in Middleton, and the new name will incorporate a wider geographical area.
The organization has more than 2,000 members, 1,600 active, from 26 counties.
Post a comment
Report
Watch this discussion.
(24) comments
The best advice I can give is to keep the name, "Gilda's Club" . To me, it drains the faces of hope when someone who is known, like Gilda, to have made a change in so many lives to be removed. BUT, it is easier to show who she was to everyone, young and old, than to get back what you lose when you take her away. The people today will love to know her too. Please don't make the decision for others by changing the name and think they wouldn't love her too. Just think of what keeping the names teaches, one thing is look how many years between her death and today that research has done for others, because of HER. I think it's important to keep that open. It's a slam in the face if you change the name for the sake of a dollar. How about for the sake of a life instead. This choice you're making has regret written all over it, and you know it. Don't let someone put you in a position to make the biggest mistake you can make. This doesn't sound like a decision you yourself made, this is handed down by someone else. Don't compromise the standards of Gilda's Club for a buck.
PLEASE do not change the name of this wonderful organization. I was lucky enough to "know" who Gilda was and like so many people my age, I loved her. When she got sick, she challenged the disease with strength and power that made a huge difference in the lives of so many others. In all of this, she never forgot who she was, and what it was that made her special. She made us all laugh even when she must have been suffering in relative silence. Perhaps many people don't know who Gilda is. Time has a tendency to change things. Sometimes make people irrelevant. But Gilda will never be irrelevant. She will always be a pillar of strength and light and love to so many, and can be again. I doubt that it will be more difficult to let people know Gilda than it will be to change the name of the organization. And I'm sure anyone who gets to know Gilda today will be just as inspired by her as we all were back when she was with us...and continues to be with us today. I know I speak for countless numbers when I ask you to reconsider. Keep Gilda alive. People need to remember her and get to know her too. Don't take Gilda's legacy away.
Dennis D'Amato
Gilda Radner used humor to deal with some of the most difficult aspects of her illness. I treasure her book and remember watching her journey unfold. We do not change the names of parks, bridges, museums and buildings many years after someone passes. This is because it is so named to honor a life well lived. It IS Gilda's Club and that is part of the endearing charm of it. We are the sum of the goodness we bring to the lives of others. We are about how we touch others. Removing her name is disrespectful to her memory and to the people who grew to love her strength and courage. As the executive director of a non-profit, I would give anything to have someone as lovely as she was as a standard bearer for our organization. Instead of changing the name, you should be educating people on it. I can't believe your board would agree to something so inherently wrong. You earn your living on the back of her name. I agree - shame on you!
Dear Lannia,
Your name change marketing trick to generate publicity and thus increase donations is sickening.
This name change is completely disrespectful of Gilda Radner's memory. It should be your job to educate people on who your group's namesake was and why she was important. The decision to name the organization Gilda's Club was made a long time ago and before you ever thought of working there. You and your local board should have the integrity to join a group and work for the cause without having the audacity to feel that you can give it a new, better name. Have some respect for Gilda, and the people that started the group and those that have worked there throughout the years.
"Cancer Support Community Southwest Wisconsin" is a watered down, vanilla, unimaginative name anyway. If it was a restaurant, you would probably want to name it "Eat Here Southwest Wisconsin".
If your board cared about Gilda's memory you would have included her name in the new name.
This is shameful, disrespectful, and unnecessary.
Regards,
Robert
Way to hold the company line on an asinine decision, Lannia.
So if people don't know who Susan G. Komen is, they change the name of the foundation? Or Danny Thomas, or St. Jude's??
For the rest of you Here's a petition against the name change. I'm disgusted by it.:
http://www.change.org/petitions/stop-the-name-change-from-gilda-s-club-to-cancer-support-community.
Now Gawker.com is making it national news...
There are a lot of people who worked to make Gilda's Club happen because of their love for her, most notably Gene Wilder. Were they consulted before this?
The decision to change the name of the clinic defies all logic. Do you mean to tell me that we can only name a clinic or other memorial only until the a couple generations passed? In that case we'd have to change any place named after Einstein, Lincoln, Eisenhower, or Kennedy! Kids these days couldn't tell you the last three US Presidents if you asked them (sorry, I am sure there are kids that can name them in the correct order).
A legacy should be just that, a legacy. If someone doesn't know who the clinic or whatever is / was named after or what they stood for or what they accomplished then that should be the main goal of that institution - to educate people. Don't succumb to ignorant people - take the opportunity to teach people and enlighten them. So many people contributed to so many beneficial things in this world, it would be a shame to just give the institute a 'generic' name. Do the right thing - keep Gilda's vision alive and keep the name as is. Thanks
I agree with the above comments- use Gilda's name, but change the organization name to make the mission clear. It would be easy enough to do that. There is no reason for the name to be as generic as possible. There are many organizations that bear the name of people who no one "knows" - Susan G. Komen, for ex? The rationale provided is lazy and silly, and you should be ashamed.
While I agree that a mission is more than a name, the fact that the name is being changed because college kids are too young to know who she is, then you're missing part of the message which is education. Teach those kids who Gilda Radner was and what she stood for! Do you know that there are hundreds of people who probably don't know anything about St. Jude except that it's a hospital that funds research to heal kids. Should we just change the name of that hospital to "the hospital that funds research to heal kids?" How many people actually know who Mayo is? Or even why he has a clinic? We don't, but we know it's for a good cause. Shame on you for changing the name due to ignorance on the part of people who don't know who Gilda was and then claim it's to reach out to more people!
Sign the petition and let Gilda's Club Madison' know that her name transcends and should stay that way!
http://chn.ge/118hSZa
bad decision that will cost you in the long run
As I've thought about this, I am concluding that what Gilda Radner would have wanted was an organization commemorated to her struggle to support cancer patients and their families. I don't think she'd have given a rat's behind if it bore her name, so long as it fulfilled its mission. If the name change facilitates the mission, then so be it!
You'd think this would be distressing to Gilda's widower and Wisconsin native, Gene Wilder. I believe he had something to do with helping to set up organization. Even though he has since remarried, he and Gilda were very close and seemed almost a perfect couple.
'Namesake' is a great name! What? Oh, nevermind!
This kind of seems like a bad idea. Just reading the new name makes me think of cold, sterile offices. Brrrr...
Lots of young people don't know who Susan G Komen is - perhaps they should change that program name as well.
Like many of you, I have been a fan of Gilda and SNL throughout my life. However, Gilda's Club Madison is part of a larger organization, the Cancer Support Community. After a great deal of discussion and deliberation our local board of directors chose to make the change for a number of key reasons:
1. In 2013 we are beginning the outreach process to offer education and support programs to outlying areas. Our service area is a 14-county region in SW Wisconsin. Our new name incorporates the entire region.
2. Our parent organization, Cancer Support Community is now the parent agency of all Gilda’s Clubs and Wellness Communities. As of this year, all of the Wellness Communities have changed their name to Cancer Support Community. Gilda’s Clubs across the county are beginning to follow their example.
3. There will be no new Gilda’s Clubs created in coming years because Gilda’s Club Worldwide is now Cancer Support Community.
4. By incorporating what we do into our name we are eliminating confusion and will be able to more effectively raise awareness about our programs.
Finally, although the name is changing, our mission remains the same. The spirit of Gilda’s Club will stay alive in the clubhouse. We have one goal: to ensure that all people affected by cancer are empowered by knowledge, strengthened by action, and sustained by community.
It is my sincere hope that our community will continue to support our work through this challenging change and cheer on our efforts to provide emotional support, cancer education and hope to men, women and children who are impacted by cancer. As an organization we have a great deal to celebrate and we hope you will join us as we move forward.
Regards,
Lannia Stenz
Executive Director
I couldn't agree more with all but one previous post! It makes me very sad and angry that her courage, inspiration, and her memory are being treated this way! SHAME on whoever thought this is a good idea. I cannot believe that gene wilder thinks this is a good idea.
Before passing judgment, I'd like to know what Gene Wilder thinks about it...
I agree with the first 2 comments--why not add the new to the old? Gilda's name and memory--or learning about her life and death--humanizes the organization in a way that is entirely absent in the new name.
I agree with you josam! This change is a disgrace and a slap in the face to Gilda. Whoever came up with this idea should be fired.
oh my gosh. that is not a good reason to change a name. it's actually selfish, i think.
I agree with both of the previous posters. Honor Ms. Radner by continuing to use her name and add the new name to clarify the organization's mission.
The new name alone is pretty generic and unmemorable, factually correct as it is.
This is dumb, how about educating people about who Gilda Radner was and what she stood for and how she advanced the cause of cancer treatment?
Why not Gilda's Club Cancer Support Community? Just add your new bit to the old bit. We really need to see more of Gilda's old routines, today's actors and comedians could learn a few things...SNL stopped being funny about 1983.
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep it clean. Exchange ideas and opinions on posted articles. Don't promote products or services, impersonate other site users, register multiple accounts, threaten or harass others, post vulgar, abusive, obscene or sexually oriented language. Don't post content that defames or degrades anyone. Don't repost copyrighted material; link to it. In other words, stick to the topic and play nice. Report abuses by clicking the button. Users who break the rules will be banned from commenting. We no longer issue warnings. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.