Think Pink unveiled at Yarra’s Edge

By Sean Car

An exciting and warmly welcomed new asset to our local community, the Think Pink Foundation’s new Living Centre supporting people living with breast cancer was formally opened at Forge on February 18.

While Federal Health Minister Greg Hunt was a late in apology to open the new facility, Federal Member for Higgins Dr Katie Allen took over duties in his place as a giant pink ribbon was held up to celebrate the achievement.

A huge crowd gathered for the opening in the afternoon of February 18, as staff, volunteers and supporters turned out to celebrate the special moment for the foundation and for Docklands.

On top of donating the ground-floor space at Forge to the foundation, Yarra’s Edge developer Mirvac contributed more than $700,000 in delivering the new purpose-built centre, which can cater for up to 50 clients at a time.

With all services provided free of charge, the centre will offer education programs on topics such as food, fitness and finances, as well as specialist support from oncology dieticians, exercise physiologists and financial advisors.

The facility includes a flexible function and lounge space, private offices, a hairdressing salon, as well as counselling and therapy rooms.

Think Pink Foundation chairman Ron Smith told Docklands News that the organisation was very pleased and excited about establishing in Docklands.

“It’s fantastic to be in Docklands and we’ve been so lucky with the tremendous work and the gift that Mirvac and its contractors and suppliers have given us to have a brand-new Think Pink Living Centre, which really we had no hope of achieving without their help.”

“Mirvac has been a long-time supporter of Think Pink since its beginning 10 years ago and in the last few years it’s been outstanding at all levels especially with their staff who have worked so hard and very closely with us.”

“Nothing has ever been too much trouble to make the Living Centre as perfect as possible right down to arranging the art on the walls and to providing the most outstanding area for ladies to improve their journey during a very difficult time.”

Mr Smith said he had already been busy connecting with the local community here in Docklands, with the foundation keen to spread the word about its services as well as engage with other organisations.

“Our aspiration for Docklands is to make sure that people are aware that they can come to the centre if they have an issue or they want to talk about a problem concerning breast cancer. All they need to do is phone and make an appointment,” he said.

“Our early engagement has been fantastic. I’ve met with the president of the Docklands Chamber of Commerce and had a good chat about what we’re doing and, in fact, we’ve become a member of the chamber because I see that as an extremely important and integral part of the community.”

“We will be talking to other organisations as well as we get established. We will also be looking at having a monthly newsletter which will be available online.”