CUDDLY BEAR HUGS RAISE BREAST CANCER AWARENESS.

Byline: Heesun Wee Daily News Staff Writer

It's cute. It's cuddly. And if you buy one, you'll help fight breast cancer.

Applause, a Woodland Hills-based gift company, and the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation have teamed up to create Susan Bear, a teddy bear that's available for sale at gift stores, card shops, hospitals and department stores nationwide. Ten percent of each $20 bear sold will be donated to the Dallas-based Komen Breast Cancer Foundation that's dedicated to fighting breast cancer.

The 16-inch-tall brown bear, adorned with pink ribbons symbolic of breast cancer awareness, is the first in a line of bears Applause plans to launch in the next few years to support various causes. For more information on Susan Bear, call Applause at [phone].

Susan Bear's debut coincides with this month's observance of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Here's a sampling of some events and services scheduled for this month and into 1999:

For instructions on how to perform breast self-exams, stop by the cosmetics/fragrance department at Bloomingdale's in Sherman Oaks, Century City and at the Beverly Center between noon and 4 p.m. Oct. 17 and 24. Mammography technologists and registered nurses will lead the sessions. The free program is sponsored by the John Wayne Cancer Institute Auxiliary, the Eisenberg Keefer Breast Center at St. John's Health Center and Bloomingdale's. For more information on the ``Instructions for Breast Self Exams'' program, call Bloomingdale's at [phone] or the John Wayne Cancer Institute at [phone].

For a list of private practices, hospitals and breast centers offering low-cost mammograms and Pap tests in six counties - including Los Angeles and Ventura counties - in October and November, call [phone]. Directories, printed in English and Spanish, also are available at local offices of the American Cancer Society, California Family Health Council and at Mervyn's stores.

Trained volunteers at the Komen Foundation are available to answer questions about breast health and cancer. Call [phone], or visit their Web site at www.breastcancerinfo.com.

The Indecent Exposure Theater Company will hold its second annual free reading of ``club termina,'' a play written by cancer survivor Susan Rubin. It follows the stories of four women. The reading is scheduled for 8 p.m. Oct. 17 at the Los Angeles Theatre Center, 514 S. Spring St. For reservations and information, call the box office at [phone].

During ``Avon's Breast Cancer 3-Day,'' Oct. 23-25, an estimated 2,400 people will walk 50 to 60 miles from Santa Barbara to Malibu. Each walker will raise at least $1,700, and net proceeds will be awarded to nonprofit breast health programs nationwide. For more information about walking, volunteering or making a pledge, call Avon at [phone].

Sign up for the 16th Annual Minnie Riperton 5/10K Run & Walk on Nov. 8 at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The run, in memory of Riperton who died of breast cancer in 1979 at age 31, will be sponsored by the American Cancer Society and the Renaissance Runners of Los Angeles. For more information, call the American Cancer Society at [phone].