Press Releases

ATLANTA – June 9, 2011 – The American Cancer Society’s nationwide Corporate Impact Awards Series will, on Friday, honor five companies and a chief executive officer during the Society’s Corporate Impact Conference in Minneapolis, Minn. The awards will recognize employers’ engagement in targeted efforts to significantly impact cancer’s effect on the workplace, where disease-related expenditures and lost productivity costs approach $264 billion annually. The Corporate Impact Awards will address companies’ investment in employee health and wellness initiatives, responsible community involvement, and encouragement of employee engagement in the cancer fight – all of which empower the Society’s vision of a world with less cancer and more birthdays.

Receiving the 2011 Corporate Impact Awards will be: State Farm Insurance – Award of Excellence – recognizing top achievement in support of the American Cancer Society’s mission of saving lives, achieved through corporate and employee giving, customer engagement and volunteerism, and demonstration of a commitment to employee health and wellness benefits; Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota President and Chief Executive Officer, Patrick Geraghty – CEO of the Year: Excellence in Leadership and Impact – honoring a corporate chief executive who is engaged with the American Cancer Society through personal commitment of time, talent and/or financial support, while facilitating the involvement of employees and/or customers in support of the Society’s lifesaving mission; Magellan Health Services – Corporate Impact: Excellence in Tobacco Control – for implementing a company-wide, smoke-free policy enforced in all U.S. worksites, and for offering employees access to a tobacco prevention/cessation program with all barriers, including employee out-of-pocket expense, having been removed.

Also receiving American Cancer Society recognition will be: The Children’s Hospital (Denver) – Corporate Impact: Excellence in Cancer Control – for providing health information, programs and benefits in addressing specific cancer prevention behaviors as well as tracking and reporting on employee health, participation and outcomes; Curves International – Corporate Impact: Employee and Member Engagement – for demonstrating outstanding corporate-wide volunteerism among Curves employees, franchisees and members, in support of the American Cancer Society’s mission of helping people stay well and get well, find cures and fight back against the disease; and Toyota Motor Sales, USA – Corporate Impact: Employee Giving – for providing employees with the opportunity to support the American Cancer Society’s mission through a financial contribution campaign that embodies best practices, varied employee giving options, and recognition of donors and volunteers.

For more information on each recipient company’s specific engagement with the American Cancer Society, go to http://acswor.com/impactawards.asp 

“These outstanding companies have significantly impacted the health and wellness of their employees, through corporate commitment to cancer prevention and early detection initiatives and through direct financial and in-kind support of the American Cancer Society and its work to help save more lives every day. By aligning with the Society in these ways, these companies have demonstrated the premium they place on their employees’ wellbeing and their corporate commitment to helping many others who experience cancer first-hand,” said American Cancer Society CEO John R. Seffrin, Ph.D. 

The Corporate Impact Awards Series’ presentation venue, the Society’s Corporate Impact Conference, will host company practitioners from across the nation to address strategies targeting the reduction of cancer’s cost within the workplace and the creation of a healthier, more productive employee base that results in increased morale and personal engagement in the fight against the disease. 

The American Cancer Society Corporate Impact Awards are presented annually on behalf of the Society’s Corporate & Systems Initiative – an effort which creates meaningful, long-term relationships with corporations and employers of all sizes by engaging them in delivery of the Society’s lifesaving mission and support for its numerous programs and services. The Corporate & Systems Initiative helps companies implement scientifically-sound, comprehensive health and wellness programs and provides information and high-quality support for cancer screening and care to help people stay well and get well.

The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end suffering from cancer. As a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives by helping people stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early; by helping people get well by being there for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; by finding cures through investment in groundbreaking discovery; and by fighting back by rallying lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer and by rallying communities worldwide to join the fight. As the nation’s largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing more than $3.5 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, more than 11 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us anytime, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Jamie Kimbrough
Director, Media Relations
American Cancer Society
(404) 417-5889
jamie.kimbrough@cancer.org