Susan G. Komen grant recipients announced at Grandezza April 30

The Southwest Florida Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure will announce the recipients of 10 grants to nonprofit organizations providing education, screening, treatment and support to the medically underserved in Lee, Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties The grant award ceremony on Thursday, April 30, sponsored by Gibraltar Private, will take place at a luncheon at the Grandezza Country Club in Estero.

Up to 75 percent of the net proceeds raised by the affiliate remain at the local level, one of the factors enabling area nonprofit organizations to benefit from the grant distribution.

"We are delighted to be able to put this money back into the community," said Miriam Ross, executive director of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. "We want to do everything we can to expand education, screening, treatment and support throughout Southwest Florida."

Established in 2002, the Southwest Florida Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure is dedicated to furthering the Komen promise to save lives and end breast cancer forever by empowering people, ensuring quality care for all and energizing science to find the cure. Funded primarily through the affiliate's flagship event, the Komen Race for the Cure, along with generous support of community partners and individual contributors, the affiliate has raised more than $3 million in the fight against breast cancer.

In 2009, the Southwest Florida Affiliate will invest more than $963,000 in the community for local programs that provide early detection and treatment of breast cancer as well as breast health education and outreach. Since its inception in 2002, the affiliate has applied more than $1 million toward Komen scientific research grants and more than $3 million into the local community. The largest fundraiser for the organization is the Race for the Cure, which attracts more than 8,000 participants each year.

The Southwest Florida Affiliate serves Collier, Lee, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties.

A frightening one-in-eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime and in 2008 an estimated 182,000 women were diagnosed with breast cancer in the U.S.

For additional information, visit www.komenswfl.org or call 498-0016.