Perhaps it was an aunt or your close cousin. It could have been your best high school friend. Maybe it was a person you worked with for years. Whatever the exact details, just about everyone has been touched in some way by breast cancer. Many of them survived after a long and grueling fight against the disease.

It’s no different for us at Kotz Heating, Cooling & Plumbing. Now we are urging you to help us fight back and have fun at the same time. October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and this year Kotz is taking part in the Catch Me In Pink™ campaign. All month long, our employees will be wearing pink. When you see one of them, ask to take a photo of just the two of you (we call it an #usie).

When you post the photo on social media (set to public) with the hashtag #CatchMeInPink, Kotz will donate $5 to the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer and you will be automatically entered in a prize contest. There will be weekly prizes during the month, and the national grand prize is a tropical vacation for two.

The foundation was created by the co-founders of the Vera Bradley company. They were inspired by the loss of a dear friend in 1993. To this date, more than 30-million dollars has been raised for the Vera Bradley Foundation Center for Breast Cancer Research at the University of Indiana School of Medicine.

More than 30 researchers are working together to discover ways to treat, prevent and cure breast cancer. Here are just some of the ground-breaking work they are doing:

• Discovering biomarkers to identify and reduce the painful side effects of treatments
• Studying patient gene signatures and protein markers for P13K inhibitors, research which can suppress tumor growth
• Activating the immune system to treat triple-negative breast cancer, a type of cancer that doesn’t respond well to more traditional treatments
• Mapping the genome and proteome of normal breast tissue – a resource to help researchers worldwide to understand cancer

Kotz is proud to do its part to fund this lifesaving research. Learn more at www.verabradley.org.

The easiest way for you to help is to call Kotz and schedule your annual heating system maintenance during October. When our technician comes to your home dressed in pink, take the photo and post it. Bang! Another donation to the Vera Bradley Foundation to aid in their fight against breast cancer.

We know this isn’t going to ease the pain for those who have lost loved ones, but it’s organizations like the Vera Bradley Foundation for Breast Cancer that will eventually conquer this dreadful disease. We can’t think of an easier or more enjoyable way for you to join the fight and honor those friends, family-members, and co-workers who have been affected. So please, do your part to help Kotz Heating, Cooling & Plumbing raise as many donations as possible!