Sean O’Connor, Managing Director, MEC Groundworks, knows first-hand the effect that a breast cancer diagnosis can have on a family. After several members of his family were diagnosed with the disease, he turned to his work for ideas on how to raise awareness for breast charities and generate precious funds to further research, diagnosis and treatment.
“Words can’t explain the shock you feel when someone close to you has a diagnosis of breast cancer,” explains Mr. O’Connor. “Although the prognosis for this disease is improving all the time, there is so much research and development that still needs to happen in order to eradicate it. Cancer Research UK is so active in fighting breast cancer by assisting early diagnosis and raising funds to develop new drugs. We decided that we as a business should do our bit to help.
“Together with MEC Groundworks Directors Dean Vaughan and Phil Knight, we came up with the idea of using our fleet to raise awareness. We promote our company logo and contact details on our machines, why not a charity too.
“We approached our dealer LDH Plant to see if it would be possible to have one of our new machines painted pink and featuring the Breast Cancer Awareness ribbon. The team were more than happy to help, and they arranged everything for us free of charge in their purpose-built paint shop. They made sure that we had exactly what we needed, from the exact shade of pink to the specially designed and printed ribbon decal and names.”
The CASE Construction Equipment CX60C excavator forms part of the six machine CASE fleet working on various groundwork, road construction and building projects across the South of England.
“It was great to see the pink machine as a focus for the MEC Groundworks summer party,” comments Michael Ward, CEO, LDH Plant. “Sean, Dean, Phil and the team did a great job of bringing together friends and family to celebrate their success and raise money for this worthy cause. They asked suppliers and associated businesses to donate raffle prizes and created a real celebratory occasion for their workforce. We were really pleased to play a small part in that, and it’s great to see that the machine is raising awareness wherever it works. We need to talk about breast cancer more so that men and women can get earlier diagnosis and treatment.”
“We’re always keen to support our customers and dealers when they are campaigning for a good cause, as it echoes our brand values of building communities” agrees Anthony Bouvié, Business Director Northern Europe, CASE Construction Equipment. “We had a special area dedicated to a pink CASE 580 backhoe loader at bauma 2013 along with scale models which we sold to raise money for cancer charities. The machine bears a Digging For A Cure decal and has been used to raise funds at various events throughout the USA and Europe.”
“It’s great to see our customers and dealers getting involved in a similar way. We encourage our customers to be creative with their CASE machines and we are always happy to be involved in customisation projects like this,” concludes Bouvié. The MEC Groundworks summer party raised £3000 for Cancer Research UK and a further £1500 has subsequently been raised for the Pink Ribbon Foundation. The pink machine continues to be a conversation starter wherever the team works.
