Update and one of the dumbest things I have ever been told

I'm in Beijing volunteering at China Breast Cancer Foundation.

Even though I spend most of the day browsing the web (it's not just me -- Farmville and videos are pretty popular in this office), it's been a fascinating look (just one week so far) into how charity and NGO work operates, in general, and in China.

We have to do a lot of cooperation with corporate sponsors to fundraise money. Our organization, as a new one, is very big on "cooperation" and my job is to somehow increase cooperation with other organizations.

Anyways, there was a fundraising at a Westin hotel where 3 dollars (about 5%) of every customer for their Mother's day champagne lunch buffet is donated to us. Well, while promoting this event, I was told by one of the head coordinators at Westin to not use the word cancer in my promotions. He said, "saying cancer drives people away. You need to say women care or care for women. You should say, come support care for women." I wanted to tell him that was the dumbest idea ever, and that we should definitely all pretend that cancer doesn't exist, but it would be dumb of me to blow a relationship that gives us money.

blah. money is never free.

-mo