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.

Warriors Wear Pink.  Check out the Warriors in Pink Collection. It includes tees, hoodies, hats, scarfs and this cool warrior vehicle magnet that represents "the powerful and the courageous who fight against breast cancer."

100% of the proceeds go to Komen for a Cure.

Scrub for Buds.  This Sea Salt Body Scrub from Anthony for Men exfoliates, soothes, tone and nourishes men’s skin.

Sales of the fragrance-free 32 oz. bottle supports prostate cancer research and the blue ribbon on the bottle is sure increase every man’s awareness of a disease
that takes over 100 lives each day.

Heart to Heart.  Do this right now: go to Quaker Oatmeal and pledge to take The Smart Heart Challenge.

You’ll get access to some great tips and resources to lower your cholesterol, and Quaker Oatmeal will donate a buck (up to $250,000) on your behalf to the Larry King Cardiac Foundation.

Ready, Aim Give.  This QuickSnap Breast Cancer Awareness One-Time-Use Camera is sleeker than its name, stylish, perfect for all picture-taking settings and delivers sharp, brilliant, quality color prints. It has a large viewfinder exposure counter, powerful flash system and a pop-up flash indicator.

For every camera sold, Fujifilm will make a donation to the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Tees Against Fleas.  Glamour magazine is back with a second round of designer charity t-shirts from Thakoon, Erin Fetherston, Marchesa, Peter Som and Jovovich-Hawk.

For each Fashion Gives Back tee sold at shopbop, six bed nets will be donated to women and children in Tanzania through Malaria No More, an organization dedicated to fighting a disease that kills one million children in Africa each year.

Give Good Face.  New from The Body Shop: a passion-fruit-scented lip-treatment gloss. It contains fair-trade marula oil from Eudafano Women’s Cooperative in Namibia.

The Body Shop will donate at least 75 percent of the proceeds of the gloss to the Face to Face program, a cosmetic and reconstructive surgery initiative that provides free care to people who suffer from facial deformities caused by birth or trauma.

The runway is open as Boston Fashion Week begins tomorrow. Highlighting this year’s event will be a gala on Monday night to benefit the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.

The gala will kick-off the runway shows for Fashion Week and introduce three new products created by South End designer Sara Campbell to benefit BCRF.

A silk scarf, long-sleeve t-shirt and dupioni blouse will be on sale for the first time that night and afterwards at the Sara Campbell store and web site.

100 percent of the net profits will go to BCRF.

Retail isn’t the only way to buy these items. If you own a store or work for a company with a gift shop, you can buy all three at wholesale and sell them yourself. And they’re not just for supporters of BCRF.

"The t-shirt and scarf especially are great because they simply have words of inspiration on them – not specific to breast cancer in this case," a Sara Campbell rep explained. "So it’s a perfect gift for anyone who needs a little bit of pick-me-up."

Be the first to see and buy the scarf, blouse and t-shirt by attending the BCRF Gala at the Boston Harbor Hotel on Monday, September 10 from 6pm to 9pm.

Thanks to Fashion Week, Boston’s fashion industry is no longer a diamond in the rough. It has the three "C’s": couture, charity and, of course, class.

My daughter Cate needs a few things before she heads back to school after Labor Day.

A watch. So she’s never late for class.

A stopwatch. So she can countdown the minutes until recess.

A compass. So she can stay on course.

An alarm. So she’s home on time for dinner.

A light. Just in case she isn’t.

A conscience. So she’ll grow up to be someone I’m proud of.

Fortunately, finishing my back-to-school shopping is just a few clicks away thanks to New Hampshire-based Garnet Hill and their Signature Trek Watch.

It has everything Cate needs: clock, stopwatch, alarm, compass and light. She can clip it onto a backpack or belt loop and it comes in four stylish colors. It sells for just $15.

Best of all, when you buy the Signature Trek Watch, Garnet Hill will donate 100% of the purchase value (up to $50,000 in merchandise) to K.I.D.S., which stands for Kids In Distressed Situations.

K.I.D.S. distributes new donated items like clothes, shoes, toys and books to children in need. Last year alone, K.I.D.S. distributed $42 million in new merchandise around the globe.

There’s a disclaimer on the Trek Watch that it’s not intended for climbing gear. Maybe so. But it might just be the thing Cate needs to reach new heights.

Sisters Ramona and Liz always dreamed of owning their own clothing boutique. They loved fashion and always followed the latest trends and styles.

Last month their dream came true when Ramona opened her own online store, Uptown Liz. Ramona named it after her sister because while it was her creation, Liz had been the inspiration, especially after she died of breast cancer in 2006 at the age of 28.

Uptown Liz honors Ramona’s sister and is a portal for consumers and companies that want to work together to help worthy causes. Ramona calls it "Retail Philanthropy".

Through their online database you can search by cause or product. For example, if you click on Children’s Health you get 7 products from perfume to blankets that support children’s causes. Or, if you search under Jewelry, you get 21 products that benefit causes like the Global Fund to Fight Aids and BeadforLife.

Currently, Uptown Liz has 30 causes and 12 product categories. But this should grow significantly in the coming months.

Ramona isn’t new to fundraising for causes. A team captain for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life in June, her team raised $22,000.

Despite losing Liz, Ramona has accomplished a lot the past couple years. She’s a survivor, a fundraiser, an advocate and even a marathoner. Now she’s a retailer. A love for fashion isn’t the only thing Ramona shares with Liz. She too is an uptown girl.

Ever since Sharna Fulton was a little girl she’s wanted to create greeting cards. Forty years later her dream is finally coming true.

Sharna left her job as an advertising copywriter in 1993 so she could launch a pottery business, The Sharna Shop and Sports Pottery, which is how I met her.

From her studio outside Athens, Georgia, Sharna makes custom mugs, ornaments and plates for marathoners and other athletes. She made me a beautiful ornament for my wife who ran the 2006 Chicago Marathon.

Sports Pottery has been a great business for Sharna. But at 46 she’s ready to focus on her childhood dream, and has officially launched Chloe Pink. Chloe is an all-American French girl who with her furry pal Pete is starring in her own greeting card line.

According to Sharna, "Chloe is a strong female character in that she isn’t afraid to try new things–from running a 5K to making creme brulee. Through Chloe, I hope to get across how important self-esteem and support for each other as women is. Whether you are 15 or 75, it is important that you love yourself and all the little things that make you ‘you.’"

It’s a spirit Sharna hopes to share with organizations that promote the health and well-being of girls of all ages. In exchange for sharing Chloe Pink’s message of confidence, curiosity and independence, the nonprofit will receive a portion of sales from each card sold.

This is a perfect partnership if you’re active with a local nonprofit and want to launch a new, fun initiative to raise money and awareness. And it’s a challenge you won’t have to face alone. You’ll have your new friends: Sharna, Chloe and, of course, Pete.

30,000 families displaced by Hurricane Katrina. 13,000 more stuck in trailer parks. 77,000 rental units in New Orleans destroyed. These numbers seem fresh from the disaster of 2005, but they actually reflect the state of New Orleans on the eve of the second anniversary.

New Orleans has made some progress, but it has a long way to go. To boost the city’s spirit, a kindred spirit has appeared. Absolut Spirits is launching an Absolut New Orleans vodka to benefit the region. Limited to 35,000 cases, 100 percent of the proceeds will go to five Gulf Coast charities. Absolut hopes to raise $2 million.

The bottle bears a red-and-silver harmonica engraved "L.O. Smith Trio" – a hat tip to Lars Olsson Smith, whose distillation process more than a century ago gave birth to the company.

Like the city itself, Absolut New Orleans has a kick thanks to a mixture of mango and black pepper. It can also give New Orleans’ signature Hurricane drink a special twist.

The support from Absolut could not have come at a better time. Largely forgotten by Americans, New Orleans is receiving fewer federal funds, even though it will take billions of dollars and years for the city to rebuild.

But the people of New Orleans are willing to work and wait for their city to be whole again. It’s a spirit you can taste in their new favorite drink, Absolut New Orleans.

Hat Tip: idUnited