Cintas Pledges to Raise $175,000 for American Heart Association Programs

CINCINNATI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to the American Heart Association (AHA), each day more than 2,000 people die from cardiovascular disease, or one death every 40 seconds. To help raise heart disease awareness, Cintas Corporation (NASDAQ: CTAS), a leader in first aid supplies and automated external defibrillator (AED) programs, today announced it has teamed up with the AHA for the third consecutive year of fundraising. Cintas has set an ambitious goal to raise $175,000 through its participation in more than 50 nationwide Heart Walks & Runs this year. It will kick off its 2013 AHA fundraising events at the Mercy Health Heart Mini on Sunday, March 17 in Cincinnati.

“Witnessing the impact that our fundraising has on the AHA programs has been extremely rewarding”

“Over the past three years, our partnership with the AHA has evolved into a tradition among Cintas employee-partners; we all look forward to the events,” said Scott Garula, President and COO, First Aid & Safety, Cintas. “Since the goals of the AHA align directly with our mission of improving health and safety, the nationwide Cintas network is highly motivated to fundraise for this important cause.”

The AHA recently set a new goal to reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease and stroke by 20 percent through its education and research programs. Since most of the funding for AHA programs comes from its Heart Walks & Runs held nationwide, Cintas’ sponsorship will help the AHA reach their bold new goal and save lives. Over the past three years, Cintas has raised more than $140,000 for the AHA through its formal sponsorships and fundraising efforts. Additionally, Scott Garula, President and COO of Cintas First Aid & Safety and Bill Carigan, Vice President of Sales, Global Accounts and Strategic Markets, both serve as elected officials on the AHA’s Executive Leadership Team in Cincinnati. In their roles on the team, Garula and Carigan help open doors within the local Cincinnati community to increase corporate fundraising initiatives that support the AHA.

“Witnessing the impact that our fundraising has on the AHA programs has been extremely rewarding,” said Carigan. “Our fundraising goal of $175,000 this year will be a challenging one, but with the passion and dedication of the Cintas teams, I know we can make it happen.”

The 2013 Heart Walk & Run schedule includes events in the following cities with additional events occurring through October:

March 17—Cincinnati, Ohio
March 23—Phoenix, Ariz.
April 13—Baton Rouge, La.
April 13—Rochester, N.Y.
April 20—Little Rock, Ark.
April 20—Tulsa, Okla.
May 4—Wichita, Kan.
May 4—Minneapolis, Minn.
May 18—Portland, Ore.

For a full list of Heart Walk & Run events, visit www.cintas.com/aha.

In addition to its sponsorship of AHA Walks & Runs, Cintas helps provide businesses with tools that help increase survival rates of individuals experiencing sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). For example, Cintas’ ReviveR™ VIEW is a simple-to-use AED that provides interactive videos that help guide responders through the entire rescue process. In addition to AEDs, Cintas is the largest provider of American Heart Association comprehensive AED/CPR and First Aid training that helps businesses ensure they are always prepared to limit injury and prevent SCA-associated death.

For more information about the upcoming Heart Walks & Runs or the ReviveR AED program from Cintas, please visit http://www.cintas.com/reviversurvivor/.

About Cintas Corporation:

Headquartered in Cincinnati, Cintas Corporation provides highly specialized services to businesses of all types primarily throughout North America. Cintas designs, manufactures and implements corporate identity uniform programs, and provides entrance mats, restroom cleaning and supplies, tile and carpet cleaning, promotional products, first aid, safety, fire protection products and services and document management services for more than 1 million businesses. Cintas is a publicly held company traded over the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol CTAS and is a component of the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.