Big Y Launches Annual Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign

All through October, which is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Big Y Foods will help the cause through its annual Partners of Hope campaign, which encompasses virtually every part of the store.

The Springfield, Mass.-based grocer will donate a portion of the proceeds from its floral and produce departments. For every Big Y, Top Care, Full Circle, World Classics Trading Co., PAWS Happy Life pet products, @Ease, Simply Done and Tippy Toes by Top Care item purchased between Oct. 6 and Oct. 12, the company will donate 5 cents. The Big Y Butcher Shop will donate 10 cents from every pound of All Natural Angus Beef and Big Y Smart Chicken to breast cancer research during the entire month of October. Big Y Pharmacy & Wellness Center will donate $5 for every flu shot given.

What’s more, Big Y dietitians Carrie Taylor and Andrea Samson have devoted a portion of their fall newsletter, “Living Well Eating Smart,” to cancer prevention. The publication is available in all Big Y stores.

Big Y’s reusable, earth-friendly pink shopping bag highlighting the breast cancer awareness campaign is now available for sale, and every store is promoting Partners of Hope pink ribbons for $1 through Oct. 31 as a way of generating additional proceeds for more than 25 local breast cancer organizations throughout the grocer’s operating area of Massachusetts and Connecticut.

Since 2007, Big Y has raised more than $1.5 million dollars for the cause. Last year, the grocer raised $251,656.

“Breast cancer affects thousands of women and many men each year,” noted Big Y CEO, Donald D’Amour. “We hope that this initiative will not only promote breast cancer awareness but also save lives through early detection and care.”

One of the largest independently owned supermarket chains in New England, family-owned and -operated Big Y has 63 stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts, with more than 11,000 employees.