Pink Heals Tour comes to UF to raise awareness, funds

October 11, 2011

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The 2011 Pink Heals Tour to raise awareness of breast cancer will stop in Gainesville and the University of Florida on Wednesday.

Dave Graybill, a now retired firefighter, began Pink Heals in Arizona with one donated fire truck he painted pink. He drove his truck to different locations within his hometown to help raise awareness for women’s cancer in honor of his loved ones who were battling cancer.

The North Florida Pink Heals Initiative’s Celebration of Women will be held from 2 to 6 p.m. on the Ben Hill Griffin Stadium North Lawn. The event will include a reading of the local proclamations, speeches by cancer survivors, an opportunity to sign the Pink Fire Trucks, and family entertainment.

The initiative represents numerous public safety departments and their employee unions from throughout North Florida. The member agencies participating in this year’s event are:

University of Florida Police Department
Gainesville Fire Rescue
Gainesville Professional Firefighters IAFF L2157
Alachua County Fire Rescue
Fire Rescue Professionals of Alachua County IAFF L3852
High Springs Fire Department
La Crosse Fire Department
Newberry Fire Department
Union County EMS
Bradford County EMS
Bradford County EMS Association IAFF L4315
Gilchrist County EMS

In addition to raising awareness for a good cause, this initiative is raising funds to assist women in obtaining cancer treatment. Our benefiting agency again this year is the Southeastern Healthcare Foundation at Shands UF. The Pink Heals Fund of the Southeastern Healthcare Foundation provides assistance with treatment and support for women in North Florida.

Participating agencies are selling Pink Heals T-shirts with their own department logos. Several Pink Heals items will be sold at the Celebration of Women and there will be a silent auction. The Pink Heals national organization does not accept any of the money and the North Florida Pink Heals Initiative does not keep any portion of the sales or donations. As such, 100 percent of the proceeds go directly to the Pink Heals Fund, making this a truly local initiative.