The National Football League’s A Crucial Catch Initiative has provided another year of funding to support increased access to breast cancer education and screening resources in underserved communities through the American Cancer Society.

The American Cancer Society has awarded a $50,000 Community Health Advocates implementing National Grants for Empowerment (CHANGE) grant to HealthPoint to continue local efforts of increasing breast cancer screening rates throughout the Puget Sound. The Puget Sound was one of 31 areas within 100 miles of an NFL teams selected for the grant funding based on breast cancer screening and mortality rates. HealthPoint plans to reach 6,733 women to increase awareness of the importance of having annual mammograms beginning at 40 years of age. In addition, HealthPoint aims to provide 986 low or no cost breast cancer screening resources to underserved women who are age and risk eligible.

“This grant is important to HealthPoint because it helps us remove barriers that prevent low-income women from accessing, early detecting, and surviving breast cancer,” states Emily Mock, Lead Patient Care Coordinator at HealthPoint. “This grant allows us to provide breast cancer screening, education, and navigation services at nine Community Health Centers in low-income ethnically diverse neighborhoods.”

The grant will also be used to support “A Crucial Catch Day – Your Day to Fight Breast Cancer” community health events on Saturday, October 25 in Des Moines, to provide free life-saving breast cancer education and screening. Women are invited to come out to the free event and learn ways to reduce the risk of breast cancer and the importance of the early detection of breast cancer. The event is family friendly and will have activities for all ages. Women who have scheduled an appointment will receive a mammogram on that day for free; all others may provide their information to HealthPoint for a screening at a later date.

According to the American Cancer Society, disparities predominantly arise from inequities in work, wealth, income, education, housing, and overall standard of living, as well as social barriers to high-quality cancer prevention, early detection and treatment services. The Society collaborates with community health partners to reach individuals in communities with higher burdens of cancer and limited access to cancer screening. Through the CHANGE program, the Society provides grant opportunities to increase breast, cervical and colorectal cancer screening rates in those communities. Since 2011, CHANGE has awarded 300 grants within underserved communities across the country; educating more than 607,000 individuals about cancer risk and prevention, and providing over 140,000 cancer screenings.

Since 2009, the NFL has donated $4.6 million to the American Cancer Society in support of the fight to end breast cancer. Over the past three years, $4 million of that total has supported the CHANGE program. More than 72,000 women have received breast cancer prevention and early detection outreach and education, and over 10,000 breast cancer screenings have taken place. The NFL’s A Crucial Catch initiative is funded primarily through the sale of breast cancer awareness-identified pink items at retail, available at NFLShop.com and in stadium retail stores, and autograph merchandise at NFL Auction. One hundred percent of the net proceeds from merchandise sales and auctions are donated to the American Cancer Society.

The NFL does not profit from the sale or auction of pink merchandise. For more information, visit nfl.com/pink.