St. Vincent”™s Hospital in Bridgeport and massage chain Massage Envy recently teamed up for the fifth year for an event that in the past has garnered $800,000 for breast cancer research, but this year turned in half a million dollars-plus.
“We operated $35 massages and $10 of that goes to Susan G. Komen,” said Eugenia Tzoannopoulous, regional developer of Massage Envy for New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. “We”™ve been working with Susan G. Komen for four years now.”
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Massages at Massage Envy are typically between $50 and $100. Susan G. Komen for the Cure is a national nonprofit based in Dallas.
The event was held at the Fairfield, Milford, South Windsor, Glastonbury and Brookfield locations of Massage Envy. St. Vincent”™s provided a free mammography screening bus at the event for those who either do not have insurance or a means to pay.
Tzoannopoulous said even prior to the event the effort had hit the mark of ensuring $500,000 raised. “We feel it”™s a real service because breast cancer is so prevalent and the majority of our clientele is female,” she said.
Tzoannopoulous said breast cancer survivors work for the spa and many of them are clients of Massage Envy.?According to Anne Morris, executive director of the Connecticut affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, “Approximately 3,000 Connecticut women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in 2009, and one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.”
Tzoannopoulous said Massage Envy was so booked from the event that outlets had to make additional appointments for Wednesday.
According to Tzoannopoulous, Massage Envy will soon be coming to Westchester County, N.Y., where the company is in talks to open shops in Rye and Eastchester.
