Philipsburg:--- The Positive Foundation recently received some 250 2012 agendas from the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.Foundation President Shelly Alphonso explained that this was the first year that an organization from St. Maarten had been featured in the annual publication. Each year organizations from different islands and countries in the region are highlighted based on their efforts to combat breast cancer.
This year's agenda profiles organizations from Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Costa Rica, Curacao, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Panama, St. Maarten and Trinidad and Tobago. The agendas, like traditional ones, allow space for planning and organization, but also features art work from across the region focused on breast cancer.
"I'm quite impressed with the product I received, especially the art. These pieces really give an idea of the different thoughts people throughout the Caribbean have about breast cancer. The art work for St. Maarten was done by Bevil Byam and the poster for the Positive Foundation was created by Zetsia Shigemoto of Blue Orange," Alphonso explained.
Alphonso also explained that AstraZeneca is the company which sells most of the medication used in the fight against breast cancer in the region and because of this wanted to give something back to the different organizations and foundations which carry out breast cancer awareness related activities.
"The company basically donates the agendas to the foundations so that they can be used to raise funds for their activities. They approached us to be a part of their initiative and we were only too happy to do so. We will mainly use our agendas as thank you gifts to our various sponsors and the remainder we will sell to raise funds for our organization," Alphonso said.
According to Alphonso the locations where the agendas can be purchased will be released at a later date.
Alphonso said she also plans to use the agenda as a networking tool, to help establish links with other foundations in the region.
"We all have the same main goal, so to speak, which is the eradication of breast cancer as a disease, so the more we work together the sooner we will be able to achieve this, I believe, and so I look forward to networking with the other organizations featured in the 2012 agenda," Alphonso said.
