SUZANNE'S HELPS FUND BREAST-CANCER RESEARCH

BARBARA MURRAY

BOISE, Idaho -- Suzanne Locklear, president and founder of Suzanne's Sensational Foods here, donates part of the proceeds from the sale of her products to breast-cancer research. During October, which is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, she does more in-store food demos and televised cooking shows than usual, promoting her line of five salad-dressing/marinades, four of which are fat-free but tasty, she says, due to their all-natural ingredients.

Her products are carried mainly in Western states by retailers such as Albertson's, Stater Bros. Markets, WINCO, AJ's Fine Foods, Raley's Bel Air, Wild Oats Markets and Zupan's. The company recently put up a booth at the Newport Beach, Calif., Race for a Cure, which drew 30,000 participants.

"Our goal is to donate $1.7 million," said the 45-year-old Locklear, the youngest woman profiled in the book "Portraits of Hope," released last year. She is also featured in another widely available book, "Women Who Mean Business," published this year by Adler Books. She survived the disease twice, first at age 31 when her three children were small, and then five years later. NABCO, the Breast Cancer Coalition and The City of Hope, Los Angeles, have received donations from Suzanne's Sensational Foods.

Products are red wine vinaigrette, the only one that contains oil and which recently won a taste award from Food Distribution Magazine, honey mustard, raspberry walnut, ginger teriyaki and garlic vinaigrette. Each 12-ounce bottle is $5.

The label on each bottle shows a graphic of a pink ribbon, which has become the popular symbol of breast-cancer awareness. And, not coincidentally, the products are suitable gifts for someone who wants to remind a friend to have a mammogram, or to offer support to someone recently diagnosed with the disease, Locklear said.