Support during Breast Cancer Awareness Month

October is known throughout the country as Breast Cancer Awareness Month and, throughout the month, you've probably noticed that your fellow landscapers wore their pink clothes and decorated their doors with pink ribbons to show their support. But other players in the green industry, such as Husqvarna, have decided to take a slightly different approach to raising awareness.

For the second year in a row, Husqvarna announced its partnership with the Men Against Breast Cancer organization (MABC) to raise money and raise awareness about bad cancer.

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Throughout the month of October, Husqvarna announced that it would promote MABC through the company's social media networks and raise awareness of the public to its unique cause. The company has announced that it will also hold the Huskvarna Breast Cancer Awareness Contest for a 2018 cause, where a randomly selected winner will receive a limited edition 450 Rancher rose saw and a limited edition chain saw. pink. The gift period is from October 1st to November 15th.

Know your audience

Michelle Sordi, Husqvarna's director of North American marketing for North America, said the company wanted to find not only unique groups but also the target population of the company.

Photo: Men against bad cancer

"We were looking for an organization that fit our population and we found Men Against Breast Cancer and think it's unique because they are men who are fighting bad cancer," she says. "Normally, people badociate it with more community women's groups. And in our sector, although there is still a considerable number of women users (between 30 and 40%), we have a greater number of men who use our products. The partnership with MABC is a different approach. "

MABC was established in 1999 by Marc Heyison in honor of his mother, a 27-year-old bad cancer survivor. At the time of her mother's initial diagnosis, Heyison explains that he remembers him and his entire family accompanying his mother to her appointments.

"We were all with her ninety-five percent of the time, but she was never alone in this rare case where we could not all go," he says. "From the point of view of our family, that's how we were raised. It was our time to be there for our mother (because she was) always there for us. But I noticed that a lot of women were alone and I did not really understand it. "

After this observation, Heyison says that he has become more of an advocate for bad cancer awareness by running a few golf tournaments to raise money so that underserved women have access to the same care as their mothers.

"She is alive thanks to early detection," he says. "So, the more involved I was in this period, the more I realized that there was really nothing for men and I wanted to do something to try to involve men. In my opinion, men can make a difference if they know what to do and can be educated and empowered to do it. "

Photo: Men against bad cancer

When a friend and now a member of the MABC board joined him in 1999, supporting Heyison's idea of ​​creating a bad cancer awareness organization for men, the elements began to come together.

"As fate would have liked, one of my board members was and remains a (male) bad surgeon," he says. "He called me in 1999 and said that many men came to him after the operation of their wife or partner.They did not know what to do and as he was a guy, they thought he knew it and would ask him, so I hung up the phone and created Men Against Breast Cancer.

According to Heyison, this organization was and remains to this day the first and only national non-profit organization 501 (c) (3) designed to provide targeted support services and to educate and empower men to be Effective caregivers when cancer strikes.

"Unfortunately, we are the only national organization whose mission is to engage men. That's why our ribbon is pink and blue, "he said. "It shows a partnership between men and women and we have to be side by side with the woman we love. In the end, if a woman knows that she has a partner who will accompany her at every step, she will be able to focus more on her treatment and improve the quality of her survival, which is the best we can hope for. do as caregivers. "

Spread the word

Even with a national scope, Heyison says the band is not what you would call "big guys," but he says that word of mouth and partnership with Husqvarna have gone a long way in raising awareness of the organization and its goals.

Photo: Facebook page of men against bad cancer

"Working with Husqvarna has been great for raising awareness and this market is perfect for us," he says. "Not only is it a market where a large part of the target population is made up of men, but it is also about families and the need to be there for each other."

Heyison notes that most people do not understand the group's interest at first because they do not offer tangible results, but Sordi says she thinks groups like this are able to humanize the fight facing people with bad cancer.

"I feel that there is a human side to every organization that is sometimes overlooked, especially in the manufacturing sector," she says. "We talk a lot about products and this is on the human side. This disease affects us all. I do not think that one person does not know an affected person. I think that (partnership with organizations like MABC) makes it more human. "

According to reports provided by MABC's social media department, Heyison said he received more feedback and people noticing the group since his partnership with Husqvarna.

"People need to understand that a caregiver can make a difference in the life of the person fighting the disease, not if, nor but," he said. "If you can manage stress differently, you can better tackle problems and have a better quality of survival. I think men need to know that they play a vital role as caregivers. "

In addition to supporting Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October, Heyison said MABC is gearing up for Family Caregiver Month, which begins in November.

To be involved

In addition to the Saws for a Cause campaign, Sordi says Husqvarna will make a $ 10,000 cash donation to MABC this year. She also notes that through their partnership with MABC, Husqvarna has been able to work with Heyison to locate families affected by bad cancer, link them with local dealers and landscapers, and provide the family with care and maintenance services. garden cleaning. The plan, she says, is to continue this process this year.

Sordi adds that through these campaigns and partnerships, she hopes to let the public know that Husqvarna cares not only about employees affected by bad cancer, but also about their clients who may be in similar situations.

For landscapers who wish to show their support for Breast Cancer Awareness Month this year and next year, keep in mind that the color change of any equipment will is not the only way to get into the game.

According to Sordi, it is simple for green industry professionals to participate in Breast Cancer Awareness Month, as companies have the option of changing the color of uniforms and work shirts for the month of October . Or, she adds, it can even be something as simple as putting pink ribbons on the doors of your establishment or wearing pink pins on your shirts.

"I think doing the little thing is really what gives the greatest impact," she says. "When you think of major crews going from house to house or working in municipalities, changing a little thing they wear like a vest or t-shirt or giving them a hat would really go a long way."

Photo: Facebook page of men against bad cancer