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The program teams MD Anderson with corporations that conduct customer transactions, with a portion of those transactions benefiting cancer care and research.

¡°MD Anderson increases its fundraising dollars and national awareness, while corporations move toward their business or marketing goals, and consumers contribute to a cause that¡¯s important to them, most often through products they were going to purchase anyway. It¡¯s a three-way win,¡± says DeDe DeStefano, executive director for Corporate Alliances. ¡°Good corporate alliances benefit all involved.¡±

In the past year, MD Anderson initiated two new corporate alliances that achieved major win-win-wins.

The first alliance teamed the cancer center with delicatessen restaurant group Jason¡¯s Deli to raise funds for the . For every co-branded water bottle it sold, Jason¡¯s Deli donated 10 cents, raising $250,000. The alliance grew to include sales of bandanas featuring the MD Anderson cancer strikethrough logo.

¡°Many in our Jason¡¯s Deli family have been touched by cancer,¡± says Jamie Cohen, chief branding officer at Jason¡¯s Deli. ¡°We want to do more to help the communities we serve. We want to raise awareness about cancer and help MD Anderson so future generations won¡¯t experience this disease.¡±

Last spring, Jason¡¯s Deli created a healthy menu item with help from MD Anderson nutritionists. The Wild Salmon Salad was a hit, and Jason¡¯s Deli is working with nutritionists on a second menu item, Quinoa and Mango Salad.

¡°The success of this campaign has been overwhelming,¡± Cohen says. ¡°Water bottle sales are up and the salmon salad sales have exceeded expectations.¡±

MD Anderson also teamed with Stripes Convenience Stores to raise funds for MD Anderson Children¡¯s Cancer Hospital during Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month this past September.

In its Stripes Stores Celebrates Tomorrows campaign, Stripes employees and customers purchased $1 pinups to help kids with cancer. The initiative raised more than $1.4 million. The James B. and Lois R. Archer Charitable Foundation and Triumph Over Kid Cancer Foundation matched all donations, doubling the final contribution to more than $2.8 million.

¡°The funds raised will benefit MD Anderson Children¡¯s Cancer Hospital, allowing the hospital to offer more hope and healing for many children,¡± says Eduardo Pereda, Stripes vice president of marketing.