19-Year Denver Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® Volunteer Joins Yoplait® to Paint Her House Pink in Symbolic Awareness Event

Denver residents joined Yoplait^® in an emotional, symbolic breast cancer awareness event today – literally painting long-time Komen Denver Affiliate volunteer Joanie Lucas’ house pink. After losing four of her closest friends to breast cancer, Joanie’s life mission became helping other Denver women fighting the disease. In 19 years, she helped generate millions of dollars in funds through her work with the Denver Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure®. Joanie’s pink house is a reminder that breast cancer impacts women in our communities and that through programs like Yoplait’s Save Lids to Save Lives®, the fight against the disease starts in our neighborhoods and right next door.

19-year breast cancer volunteer, Joanie Lucas, joins Yoplait's Save Lids to Save Lives to paint her house pink in symbolic awareness event and reminder that the fight against the breast cancer starts in neighborhoods and right next door. (Photo: Business Wire)

"I’m not a breast cancer survivor, but I fight it every day. Looking at all the incredible women and survivors here to support me today, I feel honored and proud to be fighting with them,” said Joanie Lucas. "I want women to know that they can make a difference in someone’s life – whether by redeeming lids as part of Yoplait’s Save Lids to Save Lives, running in a Komen Race for the Cure® or offering a helping hand to a friend.”

Volunteers, neighbors, family and friends joined Yoplait and the Komen Denver Affiliate to transform Joanie’s house. In preparation for the official unveiling, participants painted the house and fence pink, collected pink Yoplait lids, chalked the driveway with inspirational messages, and left pink handprints on a fence symbolizing this community effort. The event culminated with a live press conference from Joanie’s home today at 2:30pm PT / 3:30pm MT / 4:30pm CT / 5:30pm ET, which also streamed live on Yoplait’s Facebook page. During the live stream, a 53-foot-long Yoplait truck officially unveiled the transformed home to Joanie, while her reaction was captured live. Yoplait is also making a $5,000 donation to the Denver Affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure® in Joanie’s name.

"Joanie’s work in Denver is inspirational, as is the dedication from other women across the country leading the fight against breast cancer,” says Hyun Mee Graves of Yoplait. "We hope that painting Joanie’s house pink will symbolize all the community heroes supporting Susan G. Komen for the Cure through local fundraising and programs like Save Lids to Save Lives.”

In 1993, Joanie Lucas, loving mom and grandma, joined forces with several other women to bring the first Race for the Cure® to Denver. That first race drew 3,167 participants to Denver’s inaugural Race and awarded $27,000 to fund local community grants. She has served on many committees of the Race and positions with the Board of Directors, but has consistently worked with sponsorship for over 19 years. Without question, Joanie’s tireless efforts to win the fight against breast cancer helped make the growth of the Komen Denver Race for the Cure® possible. This year’s Komen Denver Race for the Cure will be held on October 2^nd in downtown Denver.

This year, Yoplait is celebrating local efforts like Joanie’s to support women impacted by breast cancer right in their communities at Yoplait.com and Facebook. Through Save Lids to Save Lives, people can generate funds for their community’s breast cancer programs simply by redeeming their pink Yoplait lids. Yoplait will donate ten cents to Susan G. Komen for the Cure® for every pink lid redeemed by mail and online at Yoplait.com by the end of the year, up to $2 million.

People of all ages are starting Yoplait pink lid collections in neighborhoods, community centers and Universities to help fund local breast cancer programs. Thanks to their efforts, Yoplait has donated more than $30 million to the breast cancer cause through Save Lids to Save Lives and related donation initiatives during the past 13 years.

Look for pink lids and pink cups on all participating Yoplait® products, including all 6-ounce yogurt cups – Original, Light, Thick & Creamy, Light Thick & Creamy, Whips!®, Yoplait Greek, Yoplait Delights® and Yoplait Fiber One® yogurt, as well as all Large Size Yoplait yogurts . All Yoplait products are made with milk from cows not treated with rBST/rBGH.* Visit www.Yoplait.com to dedicate your lids – you can redeem up to 25 lids per day.

*No significant difference has been shown between milk from rBST/rBGH treated and non- rBST/rBGH treated cows

About General Mills

One of the world's leading food companies, General Mills operates in more than 100 countries and markets more than 100 consumer brands, including Cheerios, Häagen-Dazs, Nature Valley, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Green Giant, Old El Paso, Progresso, Yoplait, Cascadian Farm, Muir Glen, and more. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, General Mills had fiscal 2010 global net sales of US$16 billion, including the company’s $1.2 billion proportionate share of joint venture net sales.

About Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and the Komen Denver Metropolitan Affiliate

Nancy G. Brinker promised her dying sister, Susan G. Komen, she would do everything in her power to end breast cancer forever. In 1982, that promise became Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and launched the global breast cancer movement. Today, 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. Through events like the Komen Denver Race for the Cure®, the Komen Denver Metropolitan Affiliate has invested $28 million in community breast health programs in 19 Colorado counties (Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Denver, Douglas, Gilpin, Jefferson, Larimer, Logan, Morgan, Park, Phillips, Sedgwick, Summit, Washington, Weld, and Yuma). Seventy five percent of net proceeds generated by the Affiliate stay in the Denver Metropolitan area. The remaining funds go to the national Susan G. Komen for the Cure Grants Program to fund research. For more information, call 303-744-2088 or visit www.komendenver.org.

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