More than £660,000 raised for Everyman in 2011

A huge thank you to our customers and colleagues who have helped us raise more than £660,000 for Everyman this year – smashing our target by more than £160,000!

We started supporting Everyman at the beginning of this year and hoped to raise £500,000 for the charity – so we’re delighted that our total amount now stands at a staggering £661,473.82. The money will go towards funding research into the causes and cures of prostate and testicular cancer.

Our colleagues did a fantastic job throughout June to support Everyman’s male cancer awareness month, promoting our range of Everyman products and holding everything from car boot sales to charity football matches to raise awareness for the charity and get customers involved.

We heard some fantastic stories and pictures from colleagues all over the business – including one about colleague Shell Smith at Asda Galashiels, who volunteered herself for a sponsored head shave and single-handedly raised more than £1,000.

Shell said: “I just want to say a huge thank you to all my colleagues who have been a great support to me since I said I would shave my head for Everyman. And thanks to all the customers who donated money for this worthwhile cause.”

Check out more of our colleagues’ fundraising pictures in the gallery below.

Help combat male cancer with Everyman products

As this year’s X-Factor auditions gets into full swing, we’ve received a message from host Dermot O’Leary, who’s been a patron of Everyman since 2002.

“Thank you to Asda for all your support,” said the presenter, who has supported the campaign in many ways, including running a marathon, supporting TacheBack and attending several Everyman fundraising events.

This year we aim to raise £500,000 for Everyman, and with the help of our colleagues and customers, we’re looking to raise over half of that total for the Everyman campaign in the month of June alone with the sale of some great Everyman products.

We have some great products supporting Everyman available in store over the next few weeks, including Cadbury’s Boost bars, Men’s Fitness magazines, Tote umbrellas, Draper tools, Persil washing powder, Comfort washing liquids, Gillette Proglide manual/power razors and Series shave gels, DVDs, Screenies screen wipes and more.

Persil and Draper have also shown their support for the campaign by selling Everyman-themed products and donating a fantastic £50,000 and £40,000 respectively to the charity.

We’re also helping to raise funds and awareness for Everyman by organising some great Father’s Day activities in store, including turning Asda stores blue, raffles and many more fun ‘blue’ activities – come and join in the fun at your local Asda store.

With your support we can help to sustain Everyman’s valuable research into fighting the causes and risks of prostate and testicular cancer.

Cycling Coast to Coast for Everyman

Our colleagues at Asda have always been passionate about raising money for charity. In 2010, colleagues helped to take our fundraising total over £6 million by completing a record-breaking Loch Ness canoe challenge, the Pedal Power bike ride from Land’s End to John O’Groats, a national Three Peaks walk, the Yorkshire Three Peaks walk and the Leeds half-marathon, amongst other physical and mental challenges.

Last year, colleagues from the meat team at Asda completed a 145-mile Coast to Coast ride from Whitehaven to Newcastle in one day, which was a gruelling challenge but a fantastic achievement. This year, the team decided to open up the challenge to more colleagues from the meat and produce teams, and all on behalf of Everyman.

Participating colleague, Tim McCaughey says, “I was happy to see that Everyman had been chosen as an official Asda charity for 2011. I’m sure everyone has been impacted in one way or another by cancer and this is just one small way of helping the cause. It will also be a great event, tough at times, but I’m sure it’ll be a great laugh too.”

You can find out more about the challenge, the colleagues taking part, and how you can help by visiting their JustGiving page.

Be the face of Gillette in Asda - and help raise money for Everyman!

Gillette are looking for 28 men to be the face of their brand new razor – the Gillette Fusion Proglide – in Asda stores, and will be donating money to Everyman in the process.

To take part, all you have to do is upload your photo (showing your best side of course) and give your opinion of the razor. For every photograph entry received, Gillette will donate £1 to Everyman.

The 28 winners will be chosen at random. If you’re one of the lucky few, not only will your cleanly shaven face appear as the face of Gillette Fusion Proglide in Asda stores, but you will also receive a year’s supply of Gillette goodies and a Gillette kit bag.

This competition is now closed. Thanks for uploading your pictures and helping to generate awareness of the Everyman campaign and also raise money to support their vital research into male cancers.

A new partnership with Everyman for the new year

We are very happy to be formally supporting Everyman and look forward to raising money for their research and awareness campaigns. Andy Clarke, CEO at Asda is a particular supporter of Everyman and is delighted at the new partnership. “As fathers, brothers, sons, or uncles we men must be more aware of male cancers for our family’s sakes as well as our own.

“I hope that this partnership with Everyman will help more men and women be aware of the signs and symptoms of prostate and testicular cancer and will raise a significant amount of money so that the scientists at Everyman can help to stamp out these cancers.”

Celebrating Movember in style at Asda House

A brilliant way of raising money and awareness for male cancer has developed in recent years with the month of “Movember”. By growing a moustache – or “Mo” for an entire month, men throughout the country fundraise and show their concern and solidarity for male cancer sufferers.

Colleagues at Asda House joined in enthusiastically this year, cultivating and sporting a wild variety of top lip weaponry, raising over £3,000 in aid of prostate cancer research.

Not to be outdone, Asda colleagues Loretta and Karen also showed their support for the cause. Admittedly, not home-grown “Mos” but very impressive all the same!

Progress with prostate cancer research

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK. More than 35,000 men are diagnosed with the disease annually, and for 10,000 men a year it proves fatal. Yet despite this terrible toll, prostate cancer has historically not attracted the funding or research attention given to other tumours.

In 2001, this started to change with the opening of the Everyman Centre at the ICR (Institute of Cancer Research), Europe’s first and only dedicated male cancer research centre. Medical research can be a slow process, but the past decade of intensive work into prostate cancer is happily now starting to pay off.

In the month of October 2010 alone, ICR scientists published three major studies that have the potential to significantly improve the lives of men with prostate cancer. These publications reflect the ICR’s focus on both developing treatments and finding new tests to improve screening and diagnosis for this disease.

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