Trend of the week – Businesses, nonprofits support Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Baribault Jewelers”™ The Power to B”¯bracelets encourage its wearers to B Strong, B Fierce, B Badass, B Limitless or B Fearless by linking the cursive phrases with a colorful cord or chain. The commemorative Breast Friends Fund bracelet is pink and silver, the signature colors of breast cancer awareness. Courtesy Baribault Jewelers.

Few philanthropic marketing campaigns have been as successful as the pink-beribboned Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which has spurred hundreds of millions of dollars in research and support to battle this disease. Credit for much of this must go to Evelyn Lauder, the late senior corporate vice president of the Estée Lauder Companies, who with Self magazine editor Alexandra Penney created The Breast Cancer Research Foundation and the pink ribbon that has become the ubiquitous symbol of breast cancer awareness. (Lauder also founded the”¯Evelyn H. Lauder Breast Center”¯at”¯Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Manhattan. Ironically, she would die of another female cancer, nongenetic ovarian cancer, on Nov. 12, 2011.) 

In its annual “Give Pink Get More” program, Bloomingdale”™s funds programs at the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, The Tutu Project and the Marisa Acocella Foundation. Through Oct. 31, charge $15 on your Bloomingdale”™s credit card, which will be donated to these organizations, and in turn earn $25 in rewards on every $250 you spend. (Based on how much you spend, you can earn up to $250.) 

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Another powerhouse breast cancer organization is the Greenwich-based Breast Cancer Alliance, which will once again host its Luncheon and Fashion Show 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 20 at the Westchester Country Club in Harrison. Stylist and two-time breast cancer survivor Ann Caruso and four-time Olympic medalist, world champion high jumper Chaunte Lowe, another survivor, will be the speakers. Greenwich department store Richards will again sponsor a fashion show, this year featuring Carolina Herrera creations with a guest appearance by the house”™s creative designer, Wes Gordon. 

Then get set for one of the emotional highlights of the event as survivors take to the runway for the “Models of Inspiration” fashion show.  

According to the American Cancer Society,”¯about 287,850”¯new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in women across the United States this year and 25% of them will have metastatic or stage 4 breast cancer. Glastonbury, Connecticut, resident Sandy”¯Cassanelli founded Breast Friends Fund (BFF), a nonprofit dedicated to the research and treatment of metastatic breast cancer.”¯ Now Cassanelli”™s charity is getting a boost from her BFF retailer –”¯Baribault Jewelers”¯and its The Power to B”¯bracelet collection. The family-owned business is hosting a Charity Shopping Event on Oct. 13 as well as offering a limited-edition The Power to B pink and silver bracelet throughout October in which BFF will receive 20% of the proceeds from both jewelry programs. The bracelet, which retails for $68, is available while inventory lasts at Baribault Jewelers”™ store at 81 Rankin Road in Glastonbury, on”¯The Power to B”¯website and at Water Street Jewelers in Guilford and Madison, Connecticut.