On today’s edition of CBT Live, Ashley Shea, Director of Corporate Affairs at AutoNation, joins us to discuss DRV PNK (Drive Pink), the company’s year-round commitment to drive out cancer. The program is celebrating its 10th anniversary after raising and donating more than $50 million.
DRV PNK began 10 years ago to support breast cancer research. Associates then asked about pediatric cancer, prostate cancer and the cancer centers in their own communities, and the program grew to support efforts to eliminate all cancers. The work still happens at the store level, where leaders run local 5Ks and golf tournaments or buy tables at galas, and the money they raise stays in the community to support local cancer centers and nonprofits, Shea said.
To mark the anniversary, AutoNation announced another $1 million in grants to 10 nonprofit partners. That includes $100,000 to the American Cancer Society’s Road to Recovery program, which gets patients to treatment, and $100,000 to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation to fund early career researchers. Funding also goes to Camp Rainbow, a week-long camp for pediatric cancer patients that Phoenix Children’s Hospital puts on and that the donation covers in full.
Store leaders choose what to support, and ideas come from every level of the business, from receptionists and porters to general managers, according to Shea. AutoNation’s 11 market presidents raised $341,000 for the American Cancer Society in October through the Men Wear Pink campaign, using dunk tanks, cookouts and other store events. Customers have joined in too, asking for the pink license plate frames to honor a mom fighting breast cancer or their own survival.
Shea encouraged dealers of any size, from a 100-unit group to a single store, to lean into being part of the community and to keep the door open for employees to say what it needs.
“Just anything that you do is going to make a difference. There’s nothing that’s too small,” Shea said. Any dollar raised or hour volunteered builds a deeper connection to the community and to customers.
