By Melanie Griffith
Created by the American Heart Association in 2004, Go Red for Women is a call to action, such as encouraging, educating, and empowering women to understand their risk factors for heart diseases and change the course of their future. Heart disease is still the number one killer of women, taking the lives of one out of every three women in the U.S. The organization is committed to changing those statistics.
February 4th is the perfect opportunity to help spread the word. Both men and women are encouraged alike to show up with their support to help raise awareness of heart disease in women by wearing red.
Contribution to the mission of Go Red for Women can be done by smart shopping. Each year, Go Red for Women partners with several different corporate sponsors who help promote the goals and mission of the program. The effort cab be joined in by supporting the Go Red for Women corporate sponsors who help make it all happen. For instance, in honor of Wear Red Day, its corporate sponsor Macy’s will be offering special savings to customers from February 2 through February 6, 2011, who wear red. All donations will go directly to Go Red for Women.
Numerous other corporate sponsors of the Go Red for Women will also provide special discounts, create special Go Red for Women product offerings, make corporate contributions for every purchase made, or pledge direct donations. The special corporate programs will not be limited to February and can be found throughout the year. Corporate sponsors include Macy’s, Merck, Astral Brands, Campbell Soup Company, Cutco, Geoffrey Beene Gives Back, GreatCall/Jitterbug, Jewelry TV, Ocean Spray, Party City, Perfumania, Princess House, Rite Aid, SuperValu, and Yankee Candle.
The money raised by supporting corporate sponsors and Go Red for Women events are used to fund research focused on women’s heart health issues, programs to educate women about heart health, and tools and education for doctors and health care professionals. Forty per cent of the earnings goes directly to public education. Another 23 per cent is spent on research regarding women’s heart issues with 13 per cent given to education for healthcare professionals.
