Saks Fifth Avenue and the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) have announced that actress Penelope Cruz has been named the EIF ambassador for Saks Fifth Avenue’s 2012 Key To The Cure campaign.
In the 14 years since the inception of the Saks Fifth Avenue charity shopping weekend, the company, together with its vendors and partners, has raised $31 million for cancer research.
Celebrated designer Carolina Herrera created a limited-edition T-shirt exclusively to benefit Key To The Cure that will retail for $35 at Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH stores and on saks.com. One hundred percent of the proceeds from each shirt sold will be donated to EIF’s Women’s Cancer Research Fund, benefiting charitable programs dedicated to finding new detection methods, better treatments and eventual cures for women’s cancers. The T-shirt debuts at Saks Fifth Avenue on October 1st.
“I am honored to join the Entertainment Industry Foundation’s Women’s Cancer Research Fund and Saks Fifth Avenue to raise awareness for women’s cancers. By purchasing this year’s SAKS FIFTH AVENUE KEY TO THE CURE t-shirt, designed by Carolina Herrera, you can help continue the innovative research already in progress. Cancer has affected each and every one of us in one way or another and I am thrilled to be involved with this wonderful cause,” says Penelope Cruz.
Steve Sadove, Chairman and CEO, Saks Fifth Avenue, said, “Partnering with Carolina Herrera, EIF’s Women’s Cancer Research Fund, and Penelope Cruz—and having the continued support of various charities throughout the country, as well as the support of our clients, vendors and Associates—is a testament to Key To The Cure’s legacy in uniting our communities to raise critical funds for awareness about this cause year after year.”
Carolina Herrera states, “It is a pleasure and honor to partner with Saks on the Key to the Cure project this year. It’s wonderful to see both fashion and philanthropy brought together to serve a greater purpose. The design of the t-shirt had to be both meaningful and pleasing to the eye and I think we’ve accomplished just that.”
Ms. Cruz will appear in a national public service announcement (PSA) wearing the Carolina Herrera limited-edition T-shirt. The Key To The Cure PSA will appear in major fashion and lifestyle magazines in September and October.
Saks Fifth Avenue’s charity shopping weekend will take place Thursday through Sunday, October 18 to 21, at all Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5TH stores nationwide and on saks.com.
Saks Fifth Avenue initiated its charity shopping weekend in 1999. Since then, the company has donated $31 million to women’s cancer research and treatment organizations throughout the United States. Organizations benefiting from these funds include: The Breast Cancer Research Foundation; EIF’s Women’s Cancer Research Fund; Cleveland Clinic; Boston’s Dana-Farber Cancer Institute; Nevada Cancer Institute and many others.
Former Key To The Cure ambassadors include Gwyneth Paltrow and Uma Thurman.
With the success of the February Charity Program, in which Saks customers gave 5% of all registered purchases made with a registered Saks Fifth Avenue credit card back to charity, Saks Fifth Avenue is bringing its charitable initiatives under one banner for the first time. A new Saks Gives logo will highlight Saks Fifth Avenue’s dedication to charity. Saks Gives will brand the company’s charitable service through philanthropic giving and active outreach, both locally and nationally.
Source: MarketWatch.com
