Kroger Delta Marketing Area Receives Komen Community Service Award
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation Recognizes Memphis Area Company for Excellence in Serving Community Breast Health Needs

MEMPHIS - March 5, 2003 - Dick Tillman, president of the Kroger Delta Marketing Area, received the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation's Community Service Award at the 2003 Komen Affiliate Conference, held February 7-9, in Arlington, Texas. The Kroger Delta Marketing Area was chosen for its commitment to excellence in striving to meet the breast health needs of the Memphis-MidSouth community.

Kroger has served as local presenting sponsor of the Komen Memphis-MidSouth Race for the Cure® for the last two years and will continue its Race sponsorship in 2003. Kroger distributed educational materials at 30 local pharmacy locations and sponsored a mobile mammography unit at numerous pharmacy locations to help provide breast health services to underserved populations in Shelby, Fayette, Tipton and DeSoto counties.

Most notable was Kroger's development of a marketing campaign to increase the community's participation in Lee National Denim Day®, the largest single-day breast cancer fundraiser in the world. Kroger ran print and radio advertising with the slogan, "Decision Denim 2002: Er-LEE Detection is Our Election," and distributed bag stuffers, lapel stickers fashioned after campaign buttons and 300 yard signs promoting Lee National Denim Day. As a result, the Komen Memphis-MidSouth Affiliate registered 120 new companies and 11,000 new participants for Lee National Denim Day.

"The Komen Community Service Award is our way of thanking Kroger Delta Marketing Area for all of the hard work and vision the company has invested in Komen's mission," said Susan Braun, president and chief executive officer of the Komen Foundation. "Kroger's work has made a palpable difference in the quality of breast cancer care in the Memphis community."

The Komen Community Service Award is presented to a corporation, organization or individual volunteer for assisting the Komen Foundation in reaching the community with its message of breast health awareness and the importance of early detection, and for involvement in local programs that provide breast cancer education and screening, especially in underserved populations.

"We are honored and humbled to receive this award," Tillman said. "It inspires us to work for the high ideals driving the thousands of volunteers who make up the Komen Foundation."

Thanks to more than 75,000 volunteers dedicated to the fight against breast cancer, the Komen Foundation is a unique grassroots network with more than 100 Affiliates. Through programs like the Komen Race for the Cure® Series and other fundraising and awareness events, Komen Affiliates raise tens of millions of dollars each year to help achieve the Foundation's mission to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease.

Up to 75 percent of an Affiliate's net income stays in the community to fund local breast health education and breast cancer screening and treatment programs. Last year, Komen Affiliates granted more than $30 million to support community-based education, screening and treatment programs. Remaining net income (a minimum of 25 percent) supports the Komen Foundation Award and Research Grant Program, which funds groundbreaking breast cancer research, meritorious awards and educational and scientific programs around the world.

For more information about breast health or breast cancer, visit the Komen Foundation's Web site, www.komen.org, or call its National Toll-Free Breast Care Helpline, 1.800 I'M AWARE® (1.800.462.9273).

« Go back