The Fourth Annual ‘Caminos al Exito’ Campaign.

The 2004 Caminos al Exito / Roads to Success campaign continues to break records every year. This year’s strategy proves to be its most ambitious yet, with the largest Hispanic bone marrow drive that the City of Hope has undertaken. A total of 124 “Health on Wheels” events are scheduled at 124 participating retailers with the support of over 500 grocery stores within the Los Angeles-metro area, stretching from Oxnard to Indio, CA. Each “Health on Wheels” provides opportunities for registration to the National Marrow Donor Program. These events will also contain bone marrow registry donor centers, and provide free health screenings by Healthcare Partners Medical Group.

According to the National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP), Hispanics represent the third largest group in the country that die of cancer, and yet represent the lowest number of bone marrow donors in the U.S. Each year, more than 30,000 people are diagnosed with leukemia, aplastic anemia and other life-threatening diseases. The best hope for these patients is a marrow or blood stem cell transplant. These transplants require matching certain tissue traits of the donor and patient. Therefore, patients are most likely to find a match from someone with the same racial or ethnic background.

“What most people don’t know about registering as a bone marrow donor is how simple the process really is. Like most donor registries, a questionnaire must be filled out, and then a small blood sample is taken. This sample tested to determine tissue type. Once listed on the Registry, the tissue type is compared to the tissue types of thousands of patients around the world who are searching for a matching donor. It is this type of health education the campaign is here to spread,” said Yvette Hernandez, Community Outreach Specialist, National Marrow Donor Program, Donor Recruitment.

The primary message of the Caminos al Exito / Roads to Success campaign targeted to the Hispanic community is clear: health education and female empowerment through consumer and product information. This year’s primary objective is to educate the Hispanic community in the importance and simplicity of signing up as a bone marrow donor, and the significance of finding a match between donors and patients of the same ethnic background. In addition to the bone marrow donor registries, there will be free health screenings, exhibits, demonstrations and seminars with information on consumer, career and various other healthcare topics presented with the entire family in mind.

From the beginning in 2001, Procter & Gamble has been a proud sponsor of Caminos al Exito / Roads to Success campaign as they have provided hundred of samples from their extensive list of products every year. This year, Procter & Gamble, has tied-in a bilingual coloring book for children titled, Edu-Comics, as part of their unique promotions dedicated to the Caminos al Exito / Roads to Success campaign.

“We are thrilled to be a part of this multicultural outreach and have embraced the program from the inception,” said Felisa Insignares, Community Relations Manager at Procter & Gamble. “We understand the overwhelming need for more health education and are working hand-in-hand with City of Hope Southern California grocery retailers to help make a difference in our community.”

The Caminos al Exito / Roads to Success campaign benefits a great cause that brings sponsoring brands, retailers and various media networks together through these 124 special events held at 19 different retail outlets, and supported by 28 participating brands and media outlets across the board. The cause is clear, to benefit City of Hope, one of the world’s leading life-threatening disease research center, founded here in Southern California.

“This is our most important effort ever. Thanks to the support of Southern California Food Industries, we will be able to sign up record numbers of Latinos to the National Bone Marrow Registry,” said Salvador Trevino, President of Santa Fe Communications, founder and executive producer of the campaign and event series.

In the past three years, the Caminos al Exito / Roads to Success campaign has proven to be City of Hope’s premier, grassroots Hispanic campaign targeting donors within the Hispanic community. This year, with its projected 124 “Health on Wheels” events and support from over 500 retailers across Southern California; record numbers of registered donors are expected.

About City of Hope

The City of Hope National Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute, a National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center, is one of the world’s leading research and treatment centers for cancer and other serious diseases, including diabetes and HIV/AIDS. The work conducted at City of Hope is shared with medical centers worldwide, touching the lives of millions of people everywhere

For more information about how you can support City of Hope’s lifesaving research and treatment programs, please call 800-260-HOPE or visit the Web site at http://www.cityofhope.org