Sales of Pink Ribbon Bagels to Benefit James P. Wilmot Cancer Center
The James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at the University of Rochester Medical Center will once again be the beneficiary of a month-long campaign by local Panera Bread bakery-cafes to recognize Breast Cancer Awareness month. This October, the signature Pink Ribbon Bagel, shaped in the form of the iconic pink ribbon, will be sold at all of Panera Bread’s approximately 1,500 bakery-cafes located in the U.S., with a portion of the proceeds from each bagel sold going to a variety of breast cancer causes throughout the country.
Locally, the Pink Ribbon bagel campaign will once again generate funds to support the work of physicians and scientists at the Wilmot Cancer Center. For each bagel sold, at least 10 cents will be donated to support breast cancer awareness and research. This year, Panera Bread has introduced another way to help fight breast cancer with the Power of Pink Baker’s Dozen. Throughout the month of October at participating bakery-cafes, one dollar from any baker’s dozen of bagels sold will be donated to the Wilmot Cancer Center.
“The Pink Ribbon Bagel is a customer favorite, in part because it’s a delicious way to start the day and because each bagel sold helps bring us one step closer to finding a cure for breast cancer,” said Joe Cereo, District Manager. “Panera Bread is proud to work with the communities we serve to help raise money for such a worthy cause. In our market, the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center will receive the funds we raise to help our commitment to provide patients in the Rochester area with the most up-to-date information and available treatments.”
“We are very appreciative of the support Panera Bread has given to the Wilmot Cancer Center and women facing the diagnosis of breast cancer,” said Kristin Skinner, M.D., Director of the Multidisciplinary Breast Cancer Program at the Wilmot Cancer Center and Chief of the Division of Surgical Oncology at URMC. “Breast cancer is a very treatable disease and anything we can do to create greater awareness, and increase the number of women who are screened, will ultimately save lives.”
This year marks the 10th anniversary of the launch of the annual Panera Bread fundraiser. Over the past decade, more than seven million Pink Ribbon Bagels have been sold nationally, raising more than $1 million for breast cancer charities throughout the U.S.