Panera Bread is inviting its customers to join in the fight against breast cancer with its signature Pink Ribbon Bagels. Panera’s signature Pink Ribbon Bagels will be sold in the San Diego market in participating bakery-cafes during the month of October. Panera Bread is proud to donate a portion of the proceeds from each Pink Ribbon Bagel sold to a variety of breast cancer causes throughout the country, including Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, San Diego.

San Diego, CA, September 29, 2010 -- Panera Bread is inviting its customers to join in the fight against breast cancer with its signature Pink Ribbon Bagels. Panera’s signature Pink Ribbon Bagels will be sold in the San Diego market in participating bakery-cafes during the month of October. Panera Bread is proud to donate a portion of the proceeds from each Pink Ribbon Bagel sold to a variety of breast cancer causes throughout the country, including Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, San Diego.

The Panera Pink Ribbon Bagel is baked fresh daily at Panera Bread bakery-cafes and features cherry chips, dried cherries and cranberries, vanilla, honey and brown sugar. The product follows the tradition of ‘thinking pink’ during the month of October in the quest to eradicate breast cancer disease. Sue Stees, one of Panera Bread’s first franchisees and a breast cancer survivor, developed the idea for the Pink Ribbon Bagel in 2001 as a way to help support the cause. Susan G. Komen for the Cure® is the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures. Thanks to funds raised by events like San Diego Panera Bread’s® Pink Ribbon Bagel, this year in San Diego, Komen has invested $8.5 million in research, education and health services.

“Panera Bread is committed to serving the members of the local community, many of whom have had their lives touched by breast cancer,” said Patrick Rogers, San Diego area Panera Bread owner and operator. “Komen San Diego has been a local champion of the cause sent its inception in 1995, and we are honored to join them in the fight to find a cure for breast cancer.”

Panera Bread and its franchisees also support charitable causes through its Operation Dough-Nation® program. Since it was founded in 1992 to formalize Panera’s commitment to community involvement, Operation Dough-Nation has contributed both monetary and bread donations through its Community Breadbox™ and Day-End Dough-Nation™ programs to local food pantries, hunger relief agencies and other community organizations. In 2009, Panera Bread bakery-cafes collectively donated a retail value of more than 50 million dollars worth of bread and baked goods to charitable organizations helping to address the need for food distribution in our local communities.

For additional information about the San Diego Race for the Cure® or Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, please visit the national Web site at www.komen.org, or the San Diego Affiliate Web site at www.komensandiego.org. San Diegans can sign up for the November 7, 2010, San Diego Race for the Cure® on the San Diego Affiliate Web site, or by calling In Motion at (760) 692-2900.

Why is the Race for the Cure® so important to San Diego County?
Since launching the breast cancer movement more than 30 years ago, Komen for the Cure has transformed the culture – bringing breast cancer out of the closet – changing the way the world talks about and treats this devastating disease. During the journey, it was often controversial and considered inappropriate to discuss diseases of the breast openly. We’ve come a long way – but we face new challenges. Here in San Diego County, many underserved women find breast cancer at a later and more aggressive stage and have a higher mortality rate. Still others have lost their jobs and can’t afford medical insurance. All of this is compounded by the California state budget crisis which forced the closure of the only free mammogram program open to women in this state. So, we’re doubling our efforts here at Komen San Diego to do what we can to raise additional funds. We raise funds primarily through the Race for the Cure®.

About Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, San Diego
Since its inception in 1995, $8.5 million has been given to local organizations that provide breast cancer education, screening, diagnostics, treatment and patient support for the uninsured or underinsured in San Diego County. Seventy-five percent of every dollar raised through Affiliate-sponsored events stays right here in San Diego County to fund free diagnostic mammograms, treatment and services for uninsured and underinsured women and their families. The remaining 25 percent funds international breast cancer research. In fact, next to the U.S. government, Susan G. Komen for the Cure® is the largest funder of breast cancer research in the world. For more information, please visit www.komensandiego.org.

Contact:
Rachel Wiley
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350 West Ash Street #103
San Diego, CA 92101
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