The Southwest Florida community helped the local American Heart Association surpass its annual fundraising goal and raise a net total of more than $1.37 million during its 2009-2010 fiscal year.

“We wouldn’t have even come close to surpassing our annual fundraising goal if it wasn’t for all the tremendous support that we’ve received from our local sponsors, volunteers and supporters this year,” said Regan Goldberg, vice president of Southwest Florida field operations. “I couldn’t be more thankful, and this is just a testament to the high concentration of generosity and support that exists in the Southwest Florida community.”

In fiscal year 2007-2008, the national association invested nearly $560 million in research, professional and public education and advocacy and community service programs to help all Americans live longer, healthier lives. About three-fourths of the American Heart Association’s funds support research and educational programs because we believe these areas can most benefit the public.

“Every penny of these donations will help our organization fulfill its mission of building healthier lives free of cardiovascular disease and stroke, which are the number one and number three killers of Americans,” Goldberg said.

“The American Heart Association is deeply committed to research. Only the federal government funds more cardiovascular research than we do,” she added. “In 2008-2009, we spent more than $142.7 million on research, which represented 20.8 percent of our overall expenses for the year, and another 40 percent was allocated for public health education. The Greater Southeast Affiliate spends 30 cents of every dollar raised on lifesaving research locally and nationally.

Founded in 1924, the American Heart Association is the nation’s oldest and largest voluntary health organization dedicated to building healthier lives, free of heart disease and stroke. These diseases, America’s number one and number three killers, and all other cardiovascular diseases claim nearly 870,000 lives each year.

In fiscal year 2007-2008, the association invested nearly $560 million in research, professional and public education, and advocacy and community service programs to help all Americans live longer, healthier lives.

“We’re proud to be associated with so many distinguished cardiovascular scientists throughout the world. As a matter of fact, research we’ve funded has produced seven Nobel Prize winners in the last 25 years,” Goldberg said. “We focus on developing early career investigators because those young people will increase the capacity of the research community to generate the highest quality research.”

To learn more, call 1-800-AHA-USA1 or visit americanheart.org.