Aflac & Sunrise Association Deliver Joy to 50 Children and Families With Childhood Cancer in Lake Zurich, IL
Company also makes $60,000 contribution to send 10 kids to camp
Originally published on Aflac Newsroom
LAKE ZURICH, Ill., August 7, 2023 /3BL/ -- Aflac and the Sunrise Association, delivered My Special Aflac Ducks® to 50 children and families facing childhood cancer today at Sunrise Day Camp–Chicago located at the JCC Chicago Lake County Campus in Lake Zurich, Illinois. Beginning in 2022, Aflac has made My Special Aflac Duck available to Sunrise campers across the United States as part of a national sponsorship with Sunrise Association, whose mission is to bring back the joys of childhood to children with cancer and their siblings in the U.S. and abroad.
My Special Aflac Duck is an award-winning social robot developed by Aflac to help provide comfort, joy and distraction to children with cancer and sickle cell. It is a cornerstone of Aflac's 28-year commitment to helping children with cancer and blood disorders, which also includes more than $168 million in contributions to the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children's Healthcare of Atlanta.
"Providing My Special Aflac Duck to children at the Sunrise Day Camp in Lake Zurich will help as they navigate the challenges associated with a cancer diagnosis, and that is a gift that everyone at Aflac, our employees, executives and independent sales agents, takes tremendous pride in delivering," Aflac U.S. President Virgil R. Miller said. "Sunrise Association shares our values and our commitment to families in need and we are incredibly pleased to work with them to deliver happiness and joy to children."
In addition to making My Special Aflac Ducks available to children participating at Sunrise Association camps across the U.S., Aflac will also continue its commitment to help send 10 children to camp in the coming year through a $60,000 contribution to the organization. Sunrise Association does not charge families for their camp experiences.
"Aflac's contribution will help us to continue offering our programs to these amazing children and families without ever having to charge a fee. Their My Special Aflac Duck program also aligns perfectly with our mission to bring joy to these children through our camp experiences," said Sunrise Association's President and CEO Arnie Preminger. "We could not be more pleased with this new relationship with one of America's strongest and more purposeful brands."
Features of My Special Aflac Duck include an interactive mobile app that allows children to virtually bathe and feed their duck, customizable soundscapes that provide soothing visuals and sounds, smart sensors that enable touch and awareness of light and sounds, and a calming heartbeat and breathing vibrations. To help children express themselves, the duck also comes with seven feeling discs that, when tapped individually to a sensor on the duck's chest, prompt My Special Aflac Duck to emulate each different emotion. Since 2018, Aflac has distributed – free-of-charge - nearly 24,000 My Special Aflac Ducks to children in the United States, Japan and Northern Ireland. Each unit costs the company approximately $200.
Healthcare providers, support organizations and families seeking to order My Special Aflac Duck for their children or patients 3 years or older who have been diagnosed with cancer or sickle cell disease may do so by visiting https://aflacchildhoodcancer.org. All My Special Aflac Ducks are provided and delivered free of charge.
ABOUT AFLAC INCORPORATED
Aflac Incorporated (NYSE: AFL), a Fortune 500 company, has helped provide financial protection and peace of mind for more than 67 years to millions of policyholders and customers through its subsidiaries in the U.S. and Japan. In the U.S., Aflac is the No. 1 provider of supplemental health insurance products.1 In Japan, Aflac Life Insurance Japan is the leading provider of cancer and medical insurance policies in force. In 2021, the company became a signatory of the Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI). In 2022, the company was included in the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index for the ninth year, the World's Most Ethical Companies by Ethisphere for the 17th consecutive year, Fortune's World's Most Admired Companies for the 22nd time and Bloomberg's Gender-Equality Index for the fourth consecutive year. To find out how to get help with expenses health insurance doesn't cover, get to know us at aflac.com or aflac.com/espanol. Investors may learn more about Aflac Incorporated and its commitment to corporate social responsibility and sustainability at investors.aflac.com under "Sustainability."
1 LIMRA 2021 U.S. Supplemental Health Insurance Total Market Report
ABOUT THE SUNRISE ASSOCIATION
The mission of the Sunrise Association is to bring back the joys of childhood to children with cancer and their siblings worldwide. Sunrise accomplishes this through the creation and oversight of welcoming, inclusive summer day camps, year-round programs and in-hospital recreational activities, all offered free of charge. Learn more at sunriseassociation.org.
Media contact: Jon Sullivan, 706-763-4813 or jsullivan@aflac.com
Analyst and investor contact: David A. Young, 706-596-3264, 800-235-2667 or dyoung@aflac.com
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