Groups join to 'Paint the Town Pink'

It is about to get pink in Colfax.

During the month of October, various organizations are banding together for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. And they want the entire city to join in on the initiative.

“We’re hoping to turn Colfax away from the well-known speed trap reputation and rebrand it,” said Laurie Gronning, public relations specialist with Whitman Hospital and Medical Center.

The idea started with Colfax Police Chief Rick McNannay. He is actually hoping a sudden turn to pink on Oct. 1 will attract national attention and show Colfax in a positive light.

The police department plans to have pink patches adhered to their uniforms, and even their speeding tickets will be pink.

Gronning said the hospital has many ideas for the initiative.

“We’re turning things pink on the hospital campus,” she said. “We’ve ordered pink surgical gloves instead of the standard blue ones. We may have pink pumpkins or pink hay bales. … And we’ll do what we can out front to make things pink.”

Gronning also said she is working to get approval for a 14x22 pink vinyl banner to hang from the hospital.

“That will be really cool,” she said. “We want to really turn things pink and show that we’re really supporting this cause.”

In addition to those touches, the hospital will also do its usual Breast Cancer Awareness Month initiatives. Every patient who comes to the hospital for a mammogram will receive a Breast Cancer Awareness Month T-shirt as well as a coupon for lunch in the Harvest Home Café.

The Colfax Chamber of Commerce is also involved. Valoree Gregory, Colfax unified executive director, said she has been speaking with businesses about ways they can be a part of pink.

“I think it’s a great idea,” she said. “It kind of gets everyone involved.”

Gregory said she has talked to businesses about decorating their storefronts pink and offering products in pink.

“I’ve talked to the coffee shops about getting pink sleeves for their cups,” she said.

Gregory also said the Chamber has 70 pink flags to link Main Street during the month.

“The whole town will be pink,” she said.

Other ideas discussed have been working with Avista to turn the street lights pink and even working with the Washington State Department of Transportation.

“We’re even asking DOT if we can turn the red stoplight pink,” said Gregory. “People had some really cool ideas!”

Gregory said there will also be a Colfax logo distributed to businesses for display. The “L” will be the breast cancer awareness symbol.

To kick off the month-long campaign, there will be a golf tournament at the Colfax Golf Course on Saturday, Sept. 30. The tournament will tee off at 10 a.m.

Gronning also said ideas are being explored for how to raise money for resources such as mammograms for local residents. She said a non-profit organization would need to be involved to collect the funding.

“Maybe through the hospital foundation we can have an avenue to collect funding and keep it in Whitman County,” said Gronning. “It could be a resource for our county if there are people in need of extra funding. We’d really want to try to keep it local.”