WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Health has launched an in-store fundraising campaign at all CVS Pharmacy locations to benefit the American Lung Association’s LUNG FORCE initiative.

Helena Foulkes

Through June 11, customers can donate $1, $3 or more at checkout at any of the 7,900 CVS drug stores or online at CVS.com/lung. All proceeds will support LUNG FORCE. Funds raised through the in-store campaign will support health education and critical research that will lead to better treatment options and improved methods of early detection.

CVS Health is the national presenting sponsor of LUNG FORCE. The company said that, over the past two years, CVS colleagues and customers have helped to raise more than $7 million for the initiative.

“In the last 38 years, the rate of new lung cancer cases has nearly doubled among women. As a health care company, it is important that CVS Health continues to spread awareness about the prevalence of lung cancer and supports the groundbreaking research being done by the American Lung Association Research Team,” CVS Pharmacy president Helena Foulkes said in a statement. “Our partnership with LUNG FORCE helps us extend our company’s purpose of helping people on their path to better health.”

According to the American Lung Association’s 2nd Annual Women’s Lung Health Barometer, a survey of more than 1,000 U.S. women, awareness of lung cancer is low, even though the disease kills almost twice as many women as any other cancer.

“Every eight minutes, a woman in the United States loses her battle with lung cancer. This needs to change,” stated Harold Wimmer, national president and chief executive officer of the American Lung Association. “More research funding is needed to beat this deadly disease, but we can’t do it alone. Through our partnership with CVS Health, we are raising critical research funding at CVS Pharmacy locations nationwide to find better treatments and more early detection methods.”