Women's

Associate owner Zahir Jiwa and his Shoppers Drug Mart colleagues donated the proceeds of their 2012 Tree of Life Campaign to BC Women's. focus on women Shoppers Drug Mart and BC Women's Hospital are united in making women's health a top priority. By Ann Collette PHOTOGRAPHY By Vincent L. chan I maintaining the health of their families and communities," observes Lisa Gibbs, manager, Community Investments. "Given that our core customers are women and that we're in the health industry, it made sense for us to focus on women." f women are healthy, their families are healthy. It's a compelling thought. In fact, it's this belief that inspired Shoppers Drug Mart, one of Canada's leading health and wellness retailers, to sharply focus its community investments on initiatives that support women's health. This is why 9 local Shoppers Drug Mart Associate owners chose to give the proceeds of their 2012 Tree of Life fundraising campaign to BC Women's Hospital – a gift of $31,897. Zahir Jiwa, a Vancouver-based Associate owner who has been with Shoppers Drug Mart for 35 years, agrees with the company's new mandate: "Approximately 60 per cent of my customers are women." mind, body and spirit Tree of Life Shoppers Drug Mart's corporate decision to invest in initiatives that support women's health in mind, body and spirit is a natural fit for a company whose stores serve communities, and whose products and services are rooted in health promotion. One of Shoppers Drug Mart's leading fundraisers is the Tree of Life campaign. While national in scope, the program empowers individual stores to direct the funds they raise to a local women's health initiative of their choice. "Women play a leading role in When Jiwa, together with 8 other local Shoppers Drug Mart Associate owners (Hitesh Patel, Nathen Kuriyama, James Ng, Dan Kooner, Anoop Khurana, Davrin Lee Sun, Art Lam, Robert Ho), decided to pool the proceeds from their respective efforts, they were unanimous in their decision as to where the money would go: "We wanted to do what's good for local women and their health, so we all agreed the money should go to BC Women's Hospital. The response from our customers and staff was phenomenal." Jiwa adds that it was especially gratifying for the Associate owners to be invited to BC Women's for their cheque presentation: "We had such a wonderful tour of the Newborn ICU. "When you see the dedication of the staff and the work they do, it really touches you and inspires you to do more." 12 WOMEN'S SPRING 2013 BCW-Spring 2013.indd 12 13-04-30 11:52 AM

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