Milestone figure achieved thanks to Asda’s Tickled Pink fundraising campaign
Unique partnership has transformed the work of two of the UK’s leading breast cancer charities – Breast Cancer Care and Breast Cancer Campaign
Following 17 years of fundraising, Asda today (07/07/2014) announces it has raised a landmark £40 million for two of the UK’s leading breast cancer charities; Breast Cancer Care and Breast Cancer Campaign through its Tickled Pink fundraising drive.
Tickled Pink was founded in 1996 by Asda with the aim to raise awareness of and funds for the treatment of breast cancer across the UK. Forging one of the most significant partnerships between business and charity in the UK, over the last 17 years Asda has enabled the two charities to help people diagnosed with breast cancer receive vital support, while also funding world-class research to help improve diagnosis, treatment and hopefully one day, a cure.
Breast cancer is the most common cancer in the UK with 50,000 people diagnosed with the disease each year, while one in eight women will be diagnosed in their lifetime.
The funds raised by Tickled Pink, through the sale of pink products and colleague fundraising efforts, have transformed the work of both charities. Without it they quite simply wouldn’t have been able to provide the vast range of services, support and research to those who need it most.
Paul Kelly, Corporate Affairs Director at Asda said: “The past 17 years of Asda’s Tickled Pink campaign have been remarkable. We have raised funds to help fight breast cancer through a unique partnership with two of the UK’s leading breast cancer charities and have raised £40 million with the support of our inspirational colleagues and customers. We see Tickled Pink as our chance to do something that really makes a difference to all those people affected by breast cancer in the UK – helping fund vital research, support services and one day hopefully a cure.”
Samia al Qadhi, Chief Executive at Breast Cancer Care, said: “I am so proud of everything we have achieved together through the Tickled Pink collaboration, and so humbled by the support and dedication of Asda’s customers, suppliers and colleagues – without their efforts we simply couldn’t offer a lifeline to many thousands of people affected by breast cancer.
“Thanks to Asda’s phenomenal support we have been able to grow our HeadStrong service, which helps women prepare for the possibility of losing their hair, by 50% in the last year. And In 2014, we will be able to transform the Moving Forward support courses we offer in local communities, reaching thousands of women as they finish treatment. A huge thank you to everyone who continues to help us make the partnership such a success.”
Asda is a founding partner of the Breast Cancer Campaign Tissue Bank, the UK’s first nationwide store of breast cancer tissue samples. This unique resource is vital to research and a major step forward towards finding the cures for all breast cancers. Asda’s funding also enables Breast Cancer Campaign to invest in life-saving research and resources providing women with an earlier diagnosis, improved treatment, a greater chance for survival and one day, hopefully, a cure for the disease.
Baroness Delyth Morgan, Breast Cancer Campaign CEO said “In the last twenty years, the campaign to overcome breast cancer has gone from strength to strength, and more women are outliving the disease than ever before. But, it’s still the most common form of cancer. The Tickled Pink collaboration has enabled us to drive world-class breast cancer research and given us greater knowledge to help us aim to overcome and outlive breast cancer in our lifetime. We’d like to thank Asda, their very generous colleagues, customers and suppliers for their exceptional support. Without Tickled Pink a lot of this work would not have been possible.”