Partners in Pink Fundraising Program Awarded Friends of the Foundation Award
at the 3rd Annual Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation - Ontario Region
Volunteer Awards Ceremony

TORONTO, April 18 /CNW/ - Lynda Anstett's enthusiasm is contagious. Ask her about Partners in Pink, the breast cancer awareness program she started as a teacher at Iroquois Ridge High School in Halton Region in 2005 to raise money in support of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation - Ontario Region, and you know she's a woman with a cause. The Partners in Pink program has since expanded to include more than 10 schools and in five years has raised more than $39,500 for the Foundation. Demonstrating their tremendous initiative, energy and team spirit, high school students throughout Halton Region are working together to raise funds to support breast cancer research, education and awareness programs in Ontario. The plan is to get more schools involved each year.

That is why the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation - Ontario Region honoured Partners in Pink with the Friends of the Foundation Award, an award granted to a volunteer community group that has demonstrated how teamwork and community spirit can help to create a future without breast cancer. The announcement was made at the 3rd Annual Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation - Ontario Region Volunteer Awards Ceremony that took place earlier today, Sunday, April 18th, in Toronto.

From "Men in Pink Ties Days," to team challenges, garage sales, fashion shows, T-shirt sales and the program's big event - a Partners in Pink football series, complete with pink yard lines, players in pink socks, a PINK Cup trophy and stands full of pink-faced cheering crowds - the Partners in Pink program, spearheaded by Lynda Anstett, has reached out to the community's youth and engaged them in the Foundation's efforts to create a future without breast cancer.

The Foundation was started in 1986 by a group of volunteers and it remains a volunteer-led organization. The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure, the Foundation's signature event, is the largest, single-day, volunteer-led event in support of breast cancer in Canada, uniting more than 70,000 participants and 6,000 volunteers in Ontario alone.

"This disease touches thousands of women and their families every year," says Sandra Palmaro, CEO of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation - Ontario Region. "The depth and breadth of our volunteer commitment demonstrates the importance and pervasiveness of the cause."

The Volunteer Awards Ceremony is held in recognition of National Volunteer Week, but the success of Foundation volunteers is evident year round. Because of the contribution of time and skill of these individuals and the dedication to the cause they inspire in others, incredible advances in breast cancer research are being made possible.

"Progress in our lifetime is more than possible - it's proven," adds Palmaro. "Real change is happening - change that is saving and improving lives. This is the day we thank our volunteers and acknowledge their extraordinary contributions to our goal of creating a future without breast cancer. We can't thank them enough."

The Foundation's Ontario Region was proud to recognize these distinguished volunteers as winners at the 3rd Annual Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation - Ontario Region Volunteer Awards Ceremony. Thanks to their efforts and those of others like them, the Foundation can continue to work towards creating a future without breast cancer.

The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation was founded in 1986 as the first organization in the country devoted exclusively to the funding of breast cancer research, education and awareness initiatives. The Foundation continues to blaze new trails in breast cancer and breast health by directing donor dollars to world-class researchers and clinicians who are contributing to groundbreaking progress in breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care. Since 2000, the Foundation has directed more than $68 million to the cause in Ontario alone as a result of fundraising initiatives like our signature event the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation CIBC Run for the Cure, hundreds of thousands of donors and the efforts of a committed volunteer network numbering in the thousands.

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