Second Annual Pink Project to benefit Henderson County Residents

by Lori Trotter

Last October, in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we started "The Pink Project." Through our fundraising efforts, with help from vendors and colleagues, we were able to donate funds from our "pink" sales to the Mammogram Fund at our local hospital.

One of the vendors who donated to the first "Pink Project" was Diamond Brand Gear (DBG) of Fletcher, NC (near Asheville). This manufacturing company has operated for 143 years in Western NC. According to a blog post on their website, on the weekend of Sept. 27-29, DBG was "submerged under several feet of water, causing severe damage to the roads, parking lot, equipment, materials, offices and facilities" from Hurricane Helene.

DBG has since posted on their website, "An Epic Story Over the Last 143 Years May be Coming to an End."

The reality of those words break our hearts. The wonderful people of DBG have not only faced disruptions of electricity, phone service and running water, seen and lived through unthinkable destruction in their communities, but their workplace is closed indefinitely.

This unthinkable tragedy is the reason we are donating funds from the Second Annual Pink Project to Henderson County where DBG operated for so many years.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

• We are taking donations of non-perishable goods. If you bring in a donation of canned goods or other non-perishable items, you can go Trick or Treating in the store. You could win a treat, a free gift or get tricked! 
• Purchase an item from the "Pink Project" goods in the store, with a portion of sales going to Henderson County Flood Relief.
• COMING SOON! Purchase a DBG Pink Tote with 100% of donations going to Flood Relief in Henderson County. We have six DBG pink totes remaining from our first Pink Project. These totes are bright pink in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness, with baby pink handles and some have black bottoms. They were designed and crafted by the DBG sewing team as part of their upcycling efforts. We want to partner with other local businesses to fill these bags with goodies to bring in even more donations. The totes are very special and unique, and could be some of the last Diamond Brand Gear to purchase as their inventory was also destroyed during Helene.

So please partner with us if you are able! We are hopeful the Pink Project and the DBG totes bring awareness not only to Breast Cancer in women and men, but also to DBG's amazing team who have lost so much.