Unless you’ve been living in a cave the past few days, you probably know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and that just about every company is selling pink products.
Most of these companies are new to supporting breast cancer research. If they’re johnny-come-latelies, the Johnny Appleseed is Lee Jeans.
For 12 years, Lee Jeans has sponsored Lee National Denim Day, which had over a million participants last year and has raised $66 million since 1996.
The program is simple. Donate five bucks and you get to swap your business clothes for your favorite jeans. Lee National Denim Day is this Friday, but you can choose any day to hold your own event. Lee has lots of helpful materials and downloads at its site to help plan your Denim Day.
The money you and your co-workers raise will fund groundbreaking breast cancer research like the Breast Cancer Biomarker Discovery Project – an ambitious, groundbreaking scientific project where a group of internationally recognized scientists and clinicians from some of the best scientific institutions in the world are collaborating to develop a blood test that will detect breast cancer in its beginning stages, when survival rates are highest.
There’s another way to help. If you plan to shop for those special jeans this week, Lee.com is donating $5 to breast cancer research for every denim order.
Be the Johnny Appleseed at your company and organize a Denim Day to raise money for breast cancer research. Jeans are the perfect clothes for planting seeds of hope.
Eating for Two. Show your passion for ice cream and finding a cure for breast cancer with a Pink Passion creation from Cold Stone Creamery.
The dessert has strawberry ice cream, strawberries, yellow cake and whipped cream. Yum!
Best of all it’s guiltless eating: for every Pink Passion sold, Cold Stone locations here in Massachusetts will make a donation to the local chapter of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
Walk the Talk. To accompany its official sponsorship of the Avon Walk, Reebok has designed a walking shoe with women in mind.
Reebok’s DMX Mega Walker gives you better fit and function. The lateral heel DMX Mega provides moving air cushioning, and the super soft, dual-density EVA sockliner offers added cushioning on heel strike.
Shape the Future. You know pilates is great 
exercise, but did you know that it can also save lives? That’s the message Shape magazine hopes to deliver with Pilates for Pink.
All month long, pilates studios from across the country, including at least ten here in Massachusetts, are hosting fundraisers. A tax-deductible donation to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation admits you to your favorite class and supports the research to cure breast cancer.
I have good and bad news. First, the bad. Your ancestors probably arrived in Boston by way of enemy territory: New York’s Ellis Island. This might explain why you have a soft spot for Derek Jeter and think Alex Rodriguez is really a "nice guy."
At least you’re in good company. Forty percent of all Americans passed through Ellis Island.
The main building at Ellis Island was renovated and reopened with much fanfare in the 1990′s. But many of the buildings, especially on the south side of the island, are in serious disrepair and closed to the public.
Taking aim at the problem is Arrow, an American apparel company that’s been around for over 150 years.
I know Arrow for their quality men’s dress shirts. But they’re much more than that. They make all kinds of clothes for men, women and children.
And to ensure that generations of families get to fully experience the incredible history at Ellis Island, Arrow donated $500,000 to help restore the Ferry Building, which reopened last spring.
Arrow is also working with Save Ellis Island on a major national campaign to raise awareness and donations for the project. I saw their "Breathe Free" ad on TV the other night and it was great.
Here’s the good news: you don’t have to buy anything from Arrow to help support Ellis Island. Arrow’s made their donation upfront, no strings attached. In my book, that should earn them our thanks and business. Shooting straight and true always hits the mark.
Unless you’ve been living in a cave the past few days, you probably know that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and that just about every company is selling pink products.
