Mid-Missourian raises money in unique way
The pink shoes are just an occupational hazard for Nick Rackers each October. His white sneakers slowly turn more and more pink with spray paint as he raises money in a unique way for breast cancer awareness throughout mid-Missouri.
Nick has kept his October evenings busy since 2020 as he travels house to house and business to business in Cole and Osage counties painting hundreds of 10-foot pink ribbons in yards. He’s raised more than $40,000 as an ambassador for the Men Wear Pink campaign through the American Cancer Society.
Nick belongs to the Jefferson City Evening Rotary Club and in 2020 a fellow Rotarian asked him to be an ambassador in what was then called Real Men Wear Pink of Mid-Missouri. “I think I probably said yes before I knew what it involved,” he says. “But she explained that I would need to raise money and awareness for breast cancer and wear pink every day in October.”
According to Briana Huff, senior development manager for the American Cancer Society of Southwest Missouri, Men Wear Pink is a national campaign that raises money for breast cancer research, transportation and lodging for those undergoing treatment. “Our goal is to turn the money around right back into the community,” she says. “Providing the transportation and lodging just eliminates those burdens for them.”
Previously, Nick had seen others who took on fundraising activities, hosted big events or did celebrity bartending nights out, but that wasn’t in the cards during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I was trying to come up with a way to raise money, but something that might not require a big gathering,” says Nick, a commercial turf and grounds instructor at State Technical College of Missouri in Linn. “I thought of a former student of mine who works at Arrowhead Stadium where they paint the ribbons on the field. He had an extra stencil he let me borrow for that year and I was off and painting.”
Nick didn’t track how many ribbons he painted that first year, but he raised more than $6,000 and learned tips and tricks to make his fundraising more efficient in the future. Since then, he’s learned which stores sell the best-looking pink spray paint and how to buy it in bulk with the help of paint sponsors. He’s worked with his brother to develop a system to most efficiently plan his painting trips.
With the logistics in place, all that’s left to do is paint. With well over 300 ribbons completed, Nick has turned it into a science. “On my way to the house or business, I might be shaking the paint with one hand so it’s ready to go when I get there,” he says. “Then I just need to find the most visible spot for the stencil.”
He starts by making a quick white outline of the ribbon with the stencil and filling it in with pink. “At that point, if you can color inside the lines, you can do this,” he says with a smile. “Then I just finish it with more white to make sure it looks crisp and I’m off to the next one.”
Nick asks for at least a $50 donation to paint a ribbon. Most ribbons last about a week, but several factors impact its longevity. He says a ribbon painted on zoysia grass will last longer due to its slow-growing nature as opposed to a ribbon painted on fescue, which will fade faster if there’s plenty of October rain. For a $200 donation, Nick will paint a ribbon at your home or business and repaint it all month long so it looks fresh until November.
“There’s a lot of people who might be survivors or who have family fighting who immediately sign up for that $200 because they want to show off that ribbon all month long,” he says. “So I’ve created this month with a lot of work, but I know how much it means.”
The campaign encourages ambassadors to use their skills to develop a fundraiser unique to them. Briana says other ambassadors host pickleball tournaments, brewery nights, sell pink cookie dough and more.
“We don’t want it to be a daunting task,” she says. “We want them to lean into their own network and what they’re passionate about. You’d be surprised what you can turn into a fundraiser if you care about it — the more creative the better.”
The ribbons go beyond just raising money and awareness. “I’m just a guy with a stencil and two colors of paint trying to raise money,” he says. “I hear from people going through treatments who specifically go to tracks where there’s a ribbon painted to walk and keep up with their exercise. It just means a lot and that’s why I do it.”
To learn more about Men Wear Pink, visit bit.ly/mwpmo. To view or donate to Nick’s campaign or to order a ribbon in Cole or Osage counties, visit bit.ly/rackersmwp.