Upwards of 10,000 eye-catching coffee cups are expected to hit the streets of Penticton this month as a local coffee shop brews up support for a good cause.
All 62 Blenz Coffee locations around B.C. have replaced their yellow to-go cups with pink versions for Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
It’s hoped the cups will help raise money for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation since the company will match customer donations up to a total of $5,000.
Danielle Said, who manages the Blenz in downtown Penticton, said the colourful cups have been a hit since they arrived here.
“A lot of people are curious about it at first, and then once they find out what it’s for, they’re pretty excited about it,” she said.
Besides donating in store, customers can also scan a barcode on the pink cups that will direct their smartphone to a website where they can give money to the foundation.
“People just like the colour,” Said continued, “but it’s a nice way to enter into a conversation about how they can donate.”
“Even men have had a good reaction to it,” she added.
Local realtor Doug Chapman, who took a break in the shop Friday, said he usually visits Blenz a couple of times a day and is proud to leave with a pink cup in his hand, even if it does lead to some good-natured jabs at work.
“As I walked into the office the other day, two of the ladies made comments about the pink cup and how it suited me. I’m not quite sure what they meant,” he said with a laugh.
“It’s a great idea,” Chapman added. “It brings awareness.”
And that’s exactly what the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation is after, confirmed Nicholas Locke, the group’s vice-president of business development for the B.C.-Yukon region.
“A lot of our messaging now is around health promotion, and this helps us with that,” he said.
“So many people are affected by breast cancer — one in nine women in Canada will be diagnosed during their lifetime — so it’s a cause that means a lot to many, many people.”
Parallel to the donation campaign, Blenz is giving away five $25 gift cards each week in October to people who post the most creative photographs of their pink cups on social media websites like Twitter, Instagram or Facebook with the hashtag #BlenzPinkCup.