City of Hope Cancer Center celebrated the 7th annual "La Gota de la Vida Campaign" to raise funds for the institution, educate Latinos about their health, and increase the number of donors to the National Bone Marrow Program. This year's campaign culminated with a festival and concert featuring internationally known recording artists Cristian Castro, Graciela Beltran, Alejandro Lerner, Tatiana, El Mayo de la Sierra, Morrison and Italia Renata. The benefit concert was attended by over 20,000 people and generated $190,000 for City of Hope. The campaign was co-sponsored by Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo, Unilever, Gamesa, Coca Cola, Food 4 Less, Albertsons, Ralphs, Superior Warehouse, Ritmo Latino Music stores and Sara Lee and also included public service announcements, bone marrow drives and community events.
To date, the campaign has raised over $1.2 million for City of Hope, registered thousands of Latino bone marrow donors and saved lives. The festival also included the Angels of Hope Awards to honor Latino professionals and leaders who have made significant contributions in their respective careers and inspirational individuals who have overcome cancer. This year's award recipients State Senator Gil Cedillo, Univision News Anchor Teresa Rodriguez, cancer survivor Gustavo Perez, Telemundo 52 General Manager Manuel Abud and Telemundo 52 News Anchor Ruben Luengas were honored at benefit dinner later that evening.
"We are honored to have the support of the sponsoring brands that believe in this cause," said Mike Mortensen, Vice president of grocery, liquor and fuel for Food 4 Less and co-chairman of the La Gota de la Vida executive committee. "Without the patronage of sponsors like PepsiCo who sponsored this year's campaign with the brands Pepsi, Frito Lay, Tropicana, Gatorade and Gamesa, we would not have the opportunity to increase the number of Latinos in the bone marrow registry and build awareness about cancer prevention and treatment in the Hispanic community."
"La Gota de la Vida" is a national public education project with participation of celebrities such as Joan Sebastian, Luis Fonsi, Jennifer Pena and Victor Manuell. The celebrities, who are committed to reach the Latino community about the importance of the bone marrow registry, participated in a highly successful public service announcement (PSA) that has already reached millions of people around the country. As a result of these efforts, the overall number of Latino bone marrow registrants has grown significantly every year.
"I am proud to be affiliated with a campaign and an organization that reaches the Latino community on such important health issues and recognizes such accomplished Latinos," said Salvador Trevino, president, Santa Fe Communications and founder of the La Gota de la Vida/Caminos al Exito Campaign. "Latinos are the third largest community to suffer from cancer and yet, we are the least likely to participate in the Bone Marrow Registry. These efforts are critical to the health of our community."
