I am learning many new things as I blog and read about new products. Did you know that May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month? Most of us are aware of the importance of protecting our skin and our children’s fair skin as well. In light of that, we thought that it would be good to share with you UV Skinz. UV Skinz is a sun protective outdoorwear company that is hoping to shed light on Skin Cancer Awareness Month through an annual Baby Skinz giveaway. They are giving away a FREE BABY SWIM SHIRT with every purchase. This is the third year in a row that UV Skinz has generously donated swimwear for their cause.
Founder of UV Skinz, Rhonda Sparks, lost her 32 year-old husband to melanoma leaving her with three sons to raise on her own. The heart and mission of her company is to build awareness and prevention of skin cancer, especially babies. That is why each shipment will contain a free UV Baby Skinz along with a flyer asking customers to pass along the Baby Skinz to a needy organization or even a needy neighbor. Sparks says, “Not only does this program get people thinking about encouraging skin health in children at early ages, but by passing along the Baby Skinz swimshirts to those in need, people are also getting out into their communities helping other great causes.†Sparks estimates that the company was able to give away approximately 1,850 swim shirts for the May 2008 Skin Cancer Awareness promotion and about doubled that in last year’s 2009 giveaway. The company’s intention this year is to reach the 3,000 Baby Skinz giveaway goal.
Statistics show that we aren’t doing enough to curb the phenomenal growth rate of skin cancer occurrence in this country. Only one, severe sunburn in childhood can more than double the chances of skin cancer developing in adulthood. The Skin Cancer Foundation provides a host of alarming skin cancer facts on its website taken from the works of pediatric oncologists, the American Cancer Society and American Academy of Dermatology (Please see the Resource links below). Among these facts is that melanoma incidence among those under 20 years of age rose 2.9 percent between 1973 and 2001. Melanoma accounts for about 3 percent of all pediatric cancers with 90 percent of pediatric
melanoma cases found in 10-19 year old girls. With every sunburn comes a decrease in the skin’s natural ability to protect itself and an exponentially higher likelihood that skin disease, eye damage or weakening of the immune system will occur later in life.
For more information, please visit www.UVSkinz.com to help support their mission to “Get Kids Covered!”
Resources:
http://www.uvskinz.com/pdf/PR_100423_MayBaby.pdf – the last two paragraphs shared above were taken directly from this pdf.
http://www.skincancer.org/your-health-even-treatable-skin-cancer-is-no-sunny-experience.html
http://www.skincancer.org/Sun-Protection-for-Babies-and-Toddlers.html
http://www.skincancer.org/For-Parents/
