Ireland is painted pink today on Irish Cancer Society’s first ever ‘Paint it Pink’ Day for breast cancer awareness

Today shops, homes, business and towns all over Ireland are painting it pink to raise money and awareness for the Irish Cancer Society’s new breast cancer campaign called ‘Paint it Pink’.

Paint it Pink is a fun way for people to raise money for the Society’s work across breast cancer funding vital research, advocacy and services to those affected by the disease. The campaign is all about: doing something big or small to paint it pink during October, sharing pictures of your activity on social media #PINKPICS, and texting the word Pink to 50300 to donate €4 to the Society.

Mark Mellett, Head of Fundraising, Irish Cancer Society said “Paint it Pink Day is the biggest day of the year for supporting the Irish Cancer Society’s fight against breast cancer. I am delighted to see the support we have already received and I am hoping that everyone will get involved and support us by painting something pink to help the hundreds of patients and their families who are affected by breast cancer each year. We are committed to helping patients through every aspect of their cancer journey and we need continued funding and support to do that.”

Ireland in the pink today:

• Pretty in pink - Farmer Dermot Healy from Tullow, Co. Carlow dyed his sheep Daisy pink to help celebrate Paint it Pink day. Daisy is tickled pink with her new ‘do’ and all the attention she is getting.
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• Painting Ireland Pink! - The Irish Cancer Society launched Paint it Pink by painting our front doors pink for the first time ever, our neighbours in the Northumberland Dental Clinic followed suit and painted their door, while creative agency Chemistry went a little further and painted their entire building pink. Finally Ladbrokes beat us all by painting two of their shops pink!
   
• Mrs. Pink – Irelands most famous mammy, Brendan O’Carroll’s Mrs. Brown, is painting the Irish Sun pink for one day only. Mrs. Brown took over as editor, painting the masthead pink and doling out some solid breast awareness advice to women everywhere.
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• Pink Lightning – The famous rings of Dublin’s Convention Centre will be pink throughout October, as will their neighbour PWC, O’Connell Street’s most famous landmark Clerys will also be illuminated in pink and Waterford’s town hall will also light their building pink.
   
• On all floors – Lobbies around Ireland are also going pink! Special floor stickers are in lobbies across the country. Buildings get stuck in include: Dublin City Council headquarters, Limerick City Hall, Dublin’s Olympia Theatre, Galway City Museum and the National Aquatic Centre.
   
• Pink Pride – Dublin is looking a little cleaner with the Paint it Pink logo power hosed onto our city streets – spreading cancer awareness and making the city sparkle!
   
• Social media gets pinked! - Facebook and twitter profiles across the country are also turning pink today – profiles including Maser, Second Captains, Shay Given and Rick O’Shea will be blushing.
   
• Drink Pink – Newmarket in Cork will play host to the 4th annual Pink Afternoon Tea. The event is organised by Rita Guiney and will have attendees aged from 4 to 104! Rita takes out her best china and bakes everything from scratch to raise money for those she has lost to cancer.
   
• Shop Pink – Companies also painted their products pink for breast cancer awareness. Ballyfree Eggs, Barry’s Tea, Shiseido, Centra, GAA Jewellery, and ghd all have special pink products while Boots Ireland, the Zip Yard, Cloud 10 Beauty, Esso, and LK Bennett are hosting pink fundraising initiatives.
   
• Think Pink! – The Killarney Outlook are ‘pinking’ out the front windows of their building and writing a special insert on what we should know about breast cancer.
   
• Watch Pink – our TV will also turn pink as UPC paint their ‘on demand’ page pink for October.

Why not get involved, join the fight, and paint it pink today?

Do something pink, share pictures of your activity online #PINKPICS, and text the word Pink to 50300 to donate €4* to the Society. We can’t continue our work in the fight against breast cancer without raising significant funds, so we hope men and women across the country will get behind the campaign and paint it pink with us. If not today then go pink anytime during October, visit www.paintitpink.ie for more information on how to get involved.

The Paint it Pink campaign is kindly supported by Centra.

Anyone who is concerned about breast health or breast cancer can speak with a specialist nurse in confidence by calling the Irish Cancer Society’s National Cancer Helpline on Freefone 1800 200 700. (The helpline runs Monday to Thursday from 9 am to 7 pm, and every Friday from 9 am to 5 pm.)You can also visit our website www.cancer.ie or email: helpline@irishcancer.ie.

* All €4 goes to the Society unless a provider applies VAT when a minimum of €3.25 will go to the Society. Service provided by LikeCharity 01-4433890