ABINGDON, VA – Day Spa Association and the International Medical Spa Association have named Universal Companies’ CEO Marti Morenings the 2007 “Spa Philanthropist of the Year”. The award was presented at the 4th annual “Cruise for a Cure,” held September 9th aboard the Temptress Yacht in New York.
Morenings, who founded international spa products distributor Universal Companies over 25 years ago, received the award for successfully raising funds to benefit breast cancer awareness. In the fall of 2006, Universal joined hands with Intrinsics® single-use essentials to fight breast cancer by introducing The Pink Glove. Over the past year spa professionals have replaced their hygienic vinyl gloves with The Pink Glove to show millions of consumers they support breast cancer research. All of the profits from the sale of each box of 100 pink vinyl gloves, $5.50, are donated to City of Hope, a leading Southern California biomedical research, treatment, and education center for cancer and other life-threatening diseases. Morenings and Universal are currently expanding the campaign into the medical, dental, and food service industries.
“I am very grateful and humbled by this award,” said Morenings. “All of us have been touched either personally or by a friend or loved one who has suffered from this dreaded disease. City of Hope is doing amazing research on fighting breast cancer, and we’re privileged to be a part of that work.”
The leaders of the day spa and medical spa industries gathered for this year’s award celebration and fund raising effort on behalf of SPACare, which is a newly formed organization to promote organized charitable giving in the spa industry. Hannelore Leavy, Executive Director for the Day Spa Association and the International Medical Spa Association said, “SPACare invites the entire spa industry to extend their commitment to their respective communities and humanity through social-action programs geared towards helping those in need”.
Universal Companies offers thousands of spa products and services, including: equipment, supplies, retail products, merchandising ideas, marketing tools, many levels of consulting, education, training, apparel, books, and videos. Universal provides products and services designed specifically to fit the needs of Day Spas, Resort Spas, Medical Spas, and Independent Practitioners. For more information or to order a complete catalog, please contact Universal Companies at 800-558-5571.
