BJ’s, Local Hospitals to Host Free ‘Pink Picnics’

BJ’s Wholesale Club will team with 13 cancer centers this October for the sixth consecutive year to hold “Pink Picnics” events. Held at local BJ’s locations, the picnic luncheons feature a doctor or specialist from a partner hospital and an inspirational speaker, who will share her personal experience with the disease. The Pink Picnics celebrate survival and are free and open to the public.

At each event, the physician will discuss the work occurring at his or her facility to eradicate breast cancer. After the inspirational speaker, other cancer survivors will be invited to tell their own stories. Additionally, all attendees will receive special gift bags.

“Many members of the BJ’s Wholesale Club family have battled breast cancer or had a family member go through it, so it’s an honor to hold the Pink Picnic events to raise awareness and money that will go to the life-saving work being done at these cancer centers,” noted Jessica Newman, manager of community relations at Westborough, Mass.-based BJ’s, which operates 190 clubs in 15 eastern states.

As well as hosting the Pink Picnics during October – a.k.a. Breast Cancer Awareness month -- BJ's will sell Pink Ribbon club merchandise. As in years past, funds raised through the specially marked merchandise will be donated to the following 13 NCI-designated cancer centers: Cleveland Clinic Cancer Center at Hillcrest Hospital in Ohio, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Massachusetts, Dartmouth-Hitchcock Norris Cotton Cancer Center in New Hampshire, Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center in North Carolina, Georgetown University Hospital’s Betty Lou Ourisman Breast Health Center in the District of Columbia, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Florida, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center in Maryland, Roswell Park Cancer Institute in New York, The Cancer Institute of New Jersey, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals in Pennsylvania, VCU Massey Cancer Center in Virginia, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University in Georgia, and Yale Cancer Center in Connecticut.

Further, Procter & Gamble is joining forces with BJ’s to offer online support to those recently affected by the disease through the website BJsforPink.com. On the site, visitors can look for and RSVP to Pink Picnics near them, and find which hospitals will benefit from the BJ’s donations.

Since 2005, BJ’s Charitable Foundation has donated more than $1.8 million to breast cancer research and treatment.