If you have seen a bright pink emergency vehicle riding through your town recently and were curious about what they were doing or whether your local fire department had rebranded their trucks’ color scheme; fret not, it was the men and women of Pink Heals! Most recently, they have been spotted in La Porte and some surrounding towns in the region.
Pink Heals is a nonprofit with independently run locations across the United States and Canada which was founded by retired firefighter Dave Graybill in 2007. The main mission of the volunteer charity is to help provide support for people in communities all across the country and to encourage awareness and fundraising on a local level. The repurposed pink emergency vehicles are their trademark and those they visit are encouraged to sign the vehicles so their names travel with the tour across the country.
“We bring the 911 system in pink to your community to host a stop,” said founder Dave Graybill, “We share our message of love and support with individuals within the community who may be struggling. We ask your city officials, your fire departments, police departments, and local businesses to find a place for us to park. While there, we share our message, sell our merchandise for our fuel and expenses, but we also ask you to find those people in your personal community that are struggling,” said Graybill of the nonprofit’s mission.
Whether it is someone with autism, MS, diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer’s or who are struggling with some other illness, Pink Heals will stop by their home or place of business and remind them that they are not alone. They also do personal runs for them for free to let them know they are loved, though they don’t raise money for third parties, they inspire the community to raise money for people in need.
Most recently, the Pink Heals Tour was in a number of Northwest Indiana towns recently, including visiting a 9-year-old Leukemia patient in Warsaw, and surprising a woman at her place of work in La Porte City Hall. They also visited another boy fighting illness in Westville and visited the Michiana Hematology to visit patients getting treatment and give out hugs and support. In all of these cases they dole out love, empathy and a clear show of support for people struggling in these communities. All were invited to sign the truck and let their name travel with the crew as they brought their message of love and understanding to more towns in Indiana and beyond.
When Pink Heals comes into a community, they encourage any businesses or individuals who are using their program to fundraise to keep that money local and support community members in need or local nonprofits. The Tour has grown quite a bit over the last decade as well, having started with only a single fire truck driven by himself, Graybill has seen Pink Heals grow into dozens of vehicles in two countries and hundreds of volunteers.