UNION CITY, Ohio — The Pink Heals Tour is coming to Union City,Ohio, Fire and Rescue, from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, thanks to Pam Idle, RN, DON, at the Union City Care Center and also the village’s fire chief.
“This is a group of volunteers, mostly firefighters who travel the country offering support to anyone suffering from cancers, survivors or the families who have lost loved ones to cancers,” Idle said. “They bring three pink fire engines and people sign their names or families sign in memory of those lost. They are not for profit. The t-shirts and silent auction I will be having will benefit someone local. No profits will be kept. It is really to show support for those suffering from cancers or touched their lives.”
Idle said it was one of her nurses, Michelle Steen, who gave her the idea of the Pink Heals Tour.
“Michelle was diagnosed with Stage IV Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, and she recently completed extensive chemotherapy and is considered in remission at this point,” Idle said. “There is a high probability of the cancer returning. Michelle is the reason I scheduled this visit. Michelle has been unable to work since January. She cannot return to work until November, due to her compromised immune system. This is would be catastrophic to most of us both emotionally and financially.’
According to Idle, this year the Pink Heals Tour has an additional fire engine dedicated to children. Prior to arriving here they will be visiting the Children’s Hospital at The Ohio State University!
“We will have a gift basket for silent auction, games and prizes for children and time to spend with the Pink Heals Tour group,” Idle said. “We are thrilled to have the Pink Heals Tour visit our town and support our citizens.”
Pink Heals Initiative is a community-based health care program to provide visionary leaders with a program that maintains fundraising dollars locally in support of women and their families.
“After seven years of traveling the country, town to town, state line to state line, it has been my personal experience that strong leaders share common traits: Selflessness, humility, an ability to inspire others for the greater good and an ability to be forward thinking – a visionary,” said Dave Graybill, founder and president. “Those visionary leaders see this program for what it is: A selfless calling to support those in need within their own community. Those leaders truly understand that when we put others before ourselves we inspire greatness, develop a strong sense of community and loyalty to one another and become a stronger, healthier community in the process.”
He continued, “Our program creates immediate care for your community without raising taxes by making sure that all your volunteerism stays local first! Millions of dollars within each state can then be given back to your own citizens with very little going to salaries. This is a program for towns, cities, counties and states, to adopt. This is not just about breast cancer and not just an awareness campaign. We are creating immediate care for those most in need. As a member of society, you are supposed to serve your family and community. If you’re a firefighter, civil servant, or any other tax-based organization, wouldn’t you want your fundraising and hard work to stay local, and assist the people in your community that you swore an oath to serve and to protect? If you are working for a large corporate charity, how much of the money you raise stays local? With this program, your efforts and money are used 100 percent locally, serving the people in your community. These are the people that you know and serve; the ones who pay your salary, the ones who teach your kids, guard the cross walks, and deliver your mail. These are the people that you interact with, and that is where your oath of service extends: Protect Your Community.”
Graybill went on to say that they have decided that they are targeting people, not disease.
“Although our main focus is the fight against cancer, we are here to serve those in need. Our goal is to protect the women in our lives; mothers, wives, daughters, who need our help regardless of their battle,” he said. “This is a re-branding and consolidation of the age-old duty of men, to protect our women. This movement to celebrate women by wearing her color and then helping them locally with their battle against all cancer and other health issues cannot be ignored.”
He added, “We are setting the example by truly being a non-profit; we are providing an environment through the pink fire trucks that is about love and hope first and about money second. Our Pink Fire Trucks inspire; they bring the feel of love and caring right to the doorstep of those in need of it most. In our program, we share our Trucks for free with communities, so they can raise money and give it to organizations that help their women and their family. Communities that hear our message are using our program and building a pink fire truck every three weeks around the World. Our program is the fastest growing support effort in the country; that is our movement. (Pink Heals ‘Cares Enough to Wear Pink’).”
The organization does not solicit donations, and neither do the chapters, he said.
“We sell our branded merchandise from our web-sites and from the pink fire trucks wherever we go,” Graybill said. “If someone hands you a hundred dollars then give them five shirts. For every dollar we receive, something is given in return. Our program started with our Pink Heals t-shirts, and is expanding outward quickly. The only time we accept a local business donation is if they are a local based business or have a strong presence on your community. That donation is then delivered in one of our pink vehicles to another charity within that community, county or state. Pink Heals is local first! Through our program, the Pink Heals Tour creates the marketing for you to be able to create fundraisers which is why we give you our trademarked artwork for free. Once your community hears about the trucks and this selfless movement, people will get involved knowing that the money stays in the community and that their local leaders, firemen, policemen and other tax-based agencies are behind it!”
