The Safeway Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer Raise Awareness and Funds in the Fight Against Prostate Cancer
LOS ANGELES and PLEASANTON, Calif., May 24, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Actress and Stand Up To Cancer Ambassador Angie Harmon will appear in a new prostate cancer campaign on behalf of Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) and The Safeway Foundation. The campaign is designed to raise funds and increase awareness for the fight against the disease, which currently affects more than two million American men and remains the second-leading cause of cancer death for men in the United States. 1 in 6 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in his lifetime.
Ms. Harmon, who will return to primetime television in the summer of 2012 in the third season of TNT's original drama series, Rizzoli & Isles, will appear in a print and 30-second broadcast public service announcements in direct support of the campaign.
To debut in June, the public service campaign coincides with Safeway's annual in-store Prostate Cancer Awareness fundraiser, which gives customers multiple opportunities to give at more than 1,450 Safeway stores across the United States. The public service campaign will extend through the month, which includes the national observance of Father's Day on Sunday, June 17.
At the center of the public service campaign is a limited-edition, reusable shopping bag, embossed with the words, "It starts with a wish; it can end with a cure." The bag will be available for purchase at all Safeway locations, including Vons, Pavilions, Tom Thumb, Randalls, Dominick's and Carrs stores, as well as online at SafewayFoundation.org. Proceeds will go to prostate cancer research. Additionally, Safeway shoppers will have a chance to make a separate donation at checkout stands.
"I am fortunate to have many leading men in my life — from my father to my husband to my cousins, friends and colleagues — and I am proud to take a stand on behalf of them all," said Ms. Harmon. "Cancer affects everyone, and it's up to all of us to support the important research that can one day make a much sought-after cure a reality."
Safeway Foundation Chair Larree Renda said The Safeway Foundation is honored to join forces with SU2C and Angie Harmon to help take cancer research to the next level.
"There's good news on the cancer research front. The prostate cancer death rate has dropped 40 percent in 17 short years. Nearly 200,000 American men are alive today because of improved treatment. Yet the progress to find treatments and a cure needs to improve," Ms. Renda said. "We can continue to make significant progress and move closer to a cure with the research made possible by SU2C and The Safeway Foundation as well as the passionate message delivered by ambassadors like Angie Harmon."
The collaborative campaign represents a continued dedication to prostate cancer research and awareness for both The Safeway Foundation and Stand Up To Cancer. To date, Safeway and The Safeway Foundation have raised more than $68 million for the Prostate Cancer Foundation, the world's largest philanthropic source of support for prostate cancer research. Those donations, provided by Safeway's generous customers, have helped fund 1,600 prostate cancer research projects that are providing hope for treatments and a cure.
In April 2012, Stand Up To Cancer and the Prostate Cancer Foundation announced the formation of a "Dream Team" dedicated to prostate cancer research. The Dream Team — comprised of physicians and scientists from five leading prostate cancer research centers in New York, Boston, Seattle, and London — will receive $10 million over a three-year period for a collaborative project that will address therapeutic interventions for advanced prostate cancer.
"The Safeway Foundation has long been a prominent supporter of prostate cancer awareness and research," said Lisa Paulsen, co-founder of Stand Up To Cancer and CEO of the Entertainment Industry Foundation. "Stand Up To Cancer is honored to join forces with The Safeway Foundation to work together to help combat a disease that takes the lives of too many men."
For more information on the campaign, visit SafewayFoundation.org.
About Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) -- a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization -- raises funds to accelerate the pace of groundbreaking translational research that can get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives. SU2C facilitates collaboration among the best and the brightest in the cancer research community. The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and a Scientific Advisory Committee conduct rigorous, competitive review processes through which SU2C's grantees are selected. By galvanizing the entertainment industry, SU2C generates awareness and builds grassroots support for this new approach to ending cancer.
About Safeway Safeway Inc. is a Fortune 100 company and one of the largest food and drug retailers in North America, based on sales. The company operates 1,678 stores in the United States and western Canada and had annual sales of $43.6 billion in 2011. The company's common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol SWY.
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