By Taylor Duffy
Pink has become much more than just a color at SimV. Two of our employees, Julie Doering and Lindsey Biggs, have a passion for Breast Cancer awareness and research and decided to step up and lead the Pinktober committee this year.
The “Pink Team” committee planned multiple events to raise money and awareness for the cause. They created custom SimV Pinktober shirts to sell, held a bake sale, organized a baked potato and salad bar sale, hosted a Chick-fil-A spirit day in which a portion of proceeds went to the cause, and raffled off extravagant baskets that were made by each SimV department. Our Virginia Beach office also participated in the festivities!
To raise awareness, committee members put pink lemonade in the kitchen for everyone to enjoy on Wednesdays, decorated the office with pink flowers and ribbons, and all committee members encouraged everyone to wear pink on National Mammography Day. Raising awareness for the disease is just as important as raising money because it encourages those to see a doctor for a mammogram, making it much easier to treat if it is caught early.
Thanks to everyone at SimV, $2,118.55 was raised for the Breast Cancer Research Foundation (BCRF). The BCRF is the highest rated Breast Cancer research organization, with 90% of donations going towards research and only 10% going to overhead. On #GivingTuesday, the Tuesday after Thanksgiving created as a movement for charitable giving, The BCRF matched our amount, making it a $4,237.10 donation!
Lindsey said, “Thank you to everyone that donated and participated in the Pinktober activities. My aunt battled breast cancer and it’s comforting knowing that our hard work paid off, earning money toward finding an overall cure.” Julie agreed and said, “Each and every penny makes a difference. Thank you to our wonderful committee that was always willing to step in, to Chick-fil-A for hosting the spirit day, and to everyone who contributed.”