Breast Cancer Auction Features Items Signed By Tony Winner And Nominees

Dolly Parton, Marcia Gay Harden, Martha Plimpton and James Gandolfini are just a few of the Broadway stars who have signed boxing gloves or tags for breast cancer bears to help raise money to support The Avon Walk for Breast Cancer.

Project Teddy Bear was conceived in 2004 as a way for walk participant Lisa Spodak to raise money and awareness to fight breast cancer. Knock Out Breast Cancer followed the next year. Spodak has walked in 15 walks (each is 2 days and 39.3 miles long) since 2002 and raised more than $100,000.

The current batch of live auctions ends Wednesday, June 17, and consists of 11 bears with autographs and photos as well as a pink boxing glove signed by Dolly Parton and the cast of "9 to 5 the Musical." The featured celebrities in this batch of auctions were chosen by their connections to this year's Tony Awards - either nominated for an award or performing in a show nominated for an award. All the auctions can be found at auctions.lisawalks.com

Additional auctions are launched throughout the course of the year and people can learn more, and sign up for a notification mailing list, at www.lisawalks.com.

The Avon Walk series is a project of the Avon Foundation, a 501(c)(3) public charity, and funds raised are distributed by the Foundation to advance access to care and finding a cure for breast cancer, with a focus on the medically underserved. For a complete list of Avon Foundation funding, visit www.avonfoundation.org.