Panera Bread honors national breast cancer awareness month

Middletown —Panera Bread is inviting it’s customers to join in the fight against breast cancer by eating a bagel for breakfast during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Panera’s signature Pink Ribbon Bagels will be sold in the Middletown, Nanuet, Port Chester, Yorktown Heights, Fishkill and Poughkeepsie cafes and in all of its more than 900 bakery-cafes during the month of October. Panera is proud to donate a portion of the proceeds from each Pink Ribbon Bagel sold to the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer campaign run by the American Cancer Society Hudson Valley Region in Middletown. In addition, Panera will be collecting money through their Operation Dough-nation program and donating it to the American Cancer Society. The Panera Pink Ribbon Bagel is baked fresh daily in each of Panera Bread’s bakery-cafes, featuring cherry chips and real bits of Bing cherries and cranberries. The product follows the tradition of ‘thinking pink’ during the month of October in the quest to eradicate breast cancer disease. Sue Stees, one of Panera Bread’s first franchisees and a breast cancer survivor, developed the idea for the Pink Ribbon Bagel in 2001 as a way to help support the cause. “Panera Bread is committed to serving the members of the local community, many of whom have had their lives touched by breast cancer,” states Tony Diaz, operating partner of the Panera Bread cafes in the Hudson Valley region. “We are honored to support the American Cancer Society in the fight to find a cure for breast cancer.”