Denver --- Nearly 1,100 participants completed this weekend’s Avon Walk for Breast Cancer Denver, braved high temperatures and raised $2.3 million to advance access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer. At today’s Closing Ceremony at Washington Park, Avon Foundation Executive Director Carol Kurzig announced the following two initial grants from funds raised:

Children's Treehouse Foundation (Denver, CO): received $125,000 to continue training, education and awareness programs that educate health experts and the public of the impact on children when a parent is diagnosed with cancer. These new funds will expand the number of hospitals involved in the Children’s Lives Include Moments of Bravery (CLIMB) training program, reaching 276 families affected by breast cancer. They will also help fund the National Training Seminars in Colorado and an annual regional seminar.

University of Colorado Cancer Center (Aurora, CO): received $750,000 to support continued research and outreach at the Avon Foundation Center at the University of Colorado Cancer Center. Funding supports research into the role of hormones in breast cancer and to better understand metastasis, as well as two community access programs: Survivorship Outreach to Latinas (SOL) and CoMadre Project, which will reach 5,000 women on breast cancer screening.

About the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer
During the Avon Walk Denver, walkers had a choice of walking a marathon (26.2 miles) or a marathon and a half (39.3 miles) over the weekend. The event kicked off Saturday, June 23rd, with an early morning Opening Ceremony at Washington Park, which included an immediate reminder of the impact of breast cancer through the remarks of Susan Sullivan, 66, of Edwardsburg, MI, a breast and ovarian cancer survivor who was about to begin her third Avon Walk in Denver.

“It’s hard for me to accept that so many people today don’t have the resources or access to crucial care that I did,” said Sullivan. “That’s why I keep coming back to participate in the Avon Walk – to help others get the care they need.”

Five years after surgery and chemotherapy for stage IV ovarian cancer, Sullivan was diagnosed with breast cancer. After talking to her doctors, she chose a double mastectomy. Today, six years later, she is considered cancer free.

On Saturday, following the inspiring early morning Opening Ceremony, walkers began their journey, supported by a volunteer crew every step of the way. After completing the first day of walking, participants spent Saturday night in two-person tents in the Avon Walk “Wellness Village” at Clement Park in Littleton, complete with hot showers, prepared meals and live entertainment. Sunday, June 24, walkers completed another 13.1 miles, ending back at Washington Park where they were greeted by thousands of family and friends who shared in a celebratory and moving Closing Ceremony.

To participate in the Avon Walk Denver, each walker raised a minimum of $1,800 in donations, which is managed and disbursed by the Avon Foundation [a 501(c)(3) public charity]. Funds raised by participants of the Avon Walks are awarded to local, regional and national breast cancer organizations to support five areas of the breast cancer cause, including awareness and education, screening and diagnosis, access to treatment, support services, and scientific research, all with a focus on the medically underserved. Donations are still being accepted for the Avon Walk Denver, and registration is still open for women and men to take part in the remaining Walks of 2007: San Francisco, CA (July 7-8); Los Angeles, CA (September 15-16); New York, NY (October 6-7); and Charlotte, NC (October 20-21). The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer recently completed walks in DC, Boston, and Chicago raising more than $25 million to date in 2007. To register, donate or for additional information, please visit www.avonwalk.org or call 800-510-WALK.