Red may be the color that’s most associated with firefighters, but, during the month of October, employees of Gilmer County Public Safety are proudly adding pink to their uniforms.
The agency’s staff is donning pink and blue T-shirts in observance of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, confirmed Fire Chief Daniel Kauffman.
Proceeds from each specially-printed T-shirt purchased by employees of public safety and other county departments go in a fund that will cover a number of reduced-cost mammograms for local women.
“We’ve partnered with Piedmont Imaging to get the cost of these mammograms reduced,” said Kauffman. “We’ve sold approximately 270 of our 300 shirts and we’re almost sold out. If (public safety employees) purchase a shirt, they’re allowed to wear it for the month of October in place of their dress shirts. It’s a win-win for everybody. They get to stay in T-shirts and we get to generate some funds.”
The T-shirts, which read Gilmer Fire: Fighting For a Cure in the bright pink color synonymous with breast cancer awareness efforts, have been sold for $15-$20, depending on size, Kauffman said.
The goal is to raise enough money to cover 10 mammograms for patients who are unable to afford them or lack insurance to cover the cost.
“I think we’re going to meet that goal, if not exceed it. It’s going through our firefighter’s auxiliary. They will write a check to Piedmont Imaging, and they’ll let us know how many mammograms those funds will purchase. They will have access to either the traditional or the 4D mammogram.”
Kauffman said courthouse and sheriff’s office staff are among the other county departments that have also purchased and worn shirts for the local Fighting for a Cure campaign.
“Piedmont also purchased some shirts internally, and some of the guys (in the fire and rescue department) are buying them for their kids or their wives. Some of them have family members who’ve battled breast cancer,” he added.
“You may also see pink magnetic ribbons on some of our trucks as they drive around Gilmer County this month,” Kauffman noted.
This is the first year the local public safety agency has conducted this type of fundraiser. Kauffman said it will continue next October.
“It was a project where I came from. We did it there,” he said. “I bounced it around here, and it seemed like it was going to get a pretty good response. Next year, we’ll probably expand it a bit. We’re going to try to start a little earlier and build on it.”
The T-shirts aren’t being sold to the general public, but anyone can make a donation to the local mammogram fund by stopping by county fire station 1, located at 325 Howard Simmons Road, Kauffman noted.
“The funds are specified for women in Gilmer County, so it’s not gong to go to anybody else,” he noted.