Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Taking It in Stride

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The statistics for breast cancer are sobering but improving. One in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with this disease during her lifetime. One in every 36 women diagnosed with the disease will die from it. It is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women in the United States.

On the brighter side, survival rates have improved over the last 20 years, in part because of increased awareness about prevention, early diagnosis and better treatment protocols.

More than 300 communities nationwide participate in the annual Making Strides Against Breast Cancer (MSABC) walk sponsored by the American Cancer Society.

Making strides against breast cancer has been a mission for Airco as well. Each October, through the years, Airco employees have walked to raise money for breast cancer awareness and our parent company, Direct Energy, has made a donation for every mile walked. We’re proud to say that as a company we’ve logged over one hundred million miles and raised thousands of dollars!

People who would like to participate may form a team, join an existing team, walk as an individual, donate or become a volunteer during the Strides walk, helping with registration, information or at water stations. Each community sets the route and the length of the walk, ranging from three to five miles.

Those who walk are encouraged to set goals for collecting donations for this charity from family, friends and corporations to support the effort. Walkers and donors can double the fundraising effort through the corporate matching funds program.

Companies can donate by pledging to match each dollar raised by teams or individual participants. Companies can also become sponsors of the event or pledge a volunteer crew to help during the event.

Individuals can donate to support a team or an individual participant, or simply send a donation to the American Cancer Society, a registered 501(c)(3) tax-free charity.