Pink Drive receives R500 000 donation thanks to a Midrand business

Bridgestone carried on their six-year support of Pink Drive through a special donation of R500 000 on 19 November.

Pink Drive was founded in 2009, with the primary focus of assisting citizens with the testing and detection of breast, cervical, testicular and prostate cancer through their mobile testing trucks. The organisation has two primary programmes, the Pink Drive which gives clinical breast exams, mammograms and pap smears, and More Balls Than Most which assists with screening for testicular cancer and prostate specific antigen tests.

General manager of Pink Drive Sharon Thomson said, “In 2014, Bridgestone initially approached Pink Drive to fund their programmes through their Pink Valve campaign. In the first year, they were able to raise R1 million. And this year, we didn’t expect the corporate coverage that we’ve been getting, so when they contacted us they said that they’ve been running the campaign but haven’t had any access to getting the sales. But they’ve managed to give us R500 000 again.”

The Pink Valve cap campaign involves Bridgestone selling R50 Pink Valve caps at their stores, which goes directly to Pink Drive. Communications officer at Bridgestone, Vuyokazi Xapa said that it assists in creating awareness of Pink Drive from their store while also giving their consumers the opportunity to give back.

Thomson added that the monetary donation is primarily used on maintenance on their mammography trucks.

Thomson added that for the first four months of the Covid-19 national lockdown they were unable to do any cancer testing, but they did do Covid-19 screening and testing. “When we got to Level 4, we were approached by the government to reenter the communities for cancer testing.”

Thomson concluded that residents should continue to have regular cancer screening even during the Covid-19 lockdown and not neglect their health. “People are avoiding it, a lot of people are not going to the doctor or hospital. We are urging people to get their cancer screening done especially women over 40 for cervical and breast cancer.”

Details: https://www.pinkdrive.co.za/