SLOCA organized a marketing and media campaign and put together several events to recognize Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month in September. Here's a summary of what we did:

Marketing

TEAL FOUNTAIN: The most visible was turning the fountain at Kiener Plaza teal, an idea sparked by volunteer Tina Nix. SLOCA paid the St. Louis parks department to purchase a special teal dye to mix into the fountain for the week starting Sept. 19.

BUS ADS: Playing on a theme of raising awareness to fight ovarian cancer aggressively, SLOCA designed and purchased ads to run on 15 Metro buses throughout metro St. Louis for six weeks in August to October. The photograph featured a woman in boxing gear with the slogan, "Early Detection Wins the Fight," and directed viewers to this website.

SCHNUCKS POSTERS: Schnucks distributed posters based on the bus ads to all 66 of its stores in metro St. Louis to be posted during the month of September.

Media

KSDK: SLOCA volunteers appeared twice on Show Me St. Louis, once to promote the Rise & Shine for a Cure yogathon, and later to promote the start of awareness month. Kay Quinn also interviewed Tina Nix to cover the day that Kiener's fountain was turned teal.

KWMU radio: Don Marsh devoted a 30-minute segment of St. Louis on the Air to the topic of ovarian cancer on Aug. 29. You can listen to it by clicking through on KWMU's website. Guests on the program included gynecologic oncologist Dr. Israel Zighelboim, SLOCA board member Jan Paul and ovarian cancer survivor Sandy Zahner.

Events

BALLGAME: One of SLOCA's biggest events every year is the Ovarian Cancer Night at the Ballpark. This year's event was held Friday, September 23, when the Cards took on the Cubs. SLOCA sold out its allocation of 500 tickets. Before the game, SLOCA volunteers will handed out awareness literature at the Rivalry Rally at Kiener Plaza sponsored by KY98-FM radio.

FAMILIES ROC: The 5th annual FamiliesROC 5K at Forest Park was the biggest ever and a poignant day. The event was created by the family of Brenda Jorgenson in honor of her battle with ovarian cancer. She passed away in August 2011. The run/walk raised more than $55,000 for ovarian cancer research. For more information, go to www.familiesroc.com

Service

COOKIES: Dierbergs donated the use of its kitchen at Clayton and Clarkson roads, and SLOCA volunteers baked 800 cookies on Tuesday, September 6. The cookies, shaped like a ribbon and iced with teal-colored frosting, were packaged and distributed to many gynecologic oncology infusion centers.