Manotick organic shop paints pink for breast cancer research
Posted Jul 29, 2010 By Jessica Bell
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Tweet ThisEMC News - It was a series of fortunate events that had Rabia Wilcox and Lisa Schmidt dipping paintbrushes in pink paint until all hours of the night midnight to be precise on July 17.
The pair had arrived at Lilou Organics, which is owned by Ms. Schmidt, earlier that morning and opened shop as they usually do. But then they spoke with a friend around 11:30 a.m. and decided in mere minutes that they would spend the next 12 hours preparing for the 105.3 KISS FM's "Paint the Town Pink" contest. The contest, which offered $2,000 in advertising airtime was in support of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's CIBC Run for the Cure.
"We heard about the contest at noon and the deadline for submission was midnight," Ms. Wilcox said. So the pair began running around town trying to figure out just what it was they were going to do and how in less than 12 hours they were going to finish.
First, Ms. Wilcox said she thought that Home Hardware in Manotick would donate the paint, but then a customer by the name of Cindy Dunlop came in to Lilou Organics and offered to buy it for them.
"I was talking to a woman I'd never seen before and told her what we were doing, when she said, 'I'll buy it for you,'" explained Ms. Schmidt. "And now I can't find her anywhere. We want to thank her."
Next, Ms. Schmidt and Ms. Wilcox went to Mill Street Florists, hoping for a donation of pink flower baskets for the store front. Because the owner wasn't in, the donation could not me made but the employee offered the flowers on loan.
Then, came getting permission from the landlord who rents the store space to Lilou Organics.
As part of the requirement for entering the contest, the business participating must also have a CIBC Run for the Cure poster on display. Ms. Wilcox had throughout the day been trying to chase down a copy of the poster, but to no avail.
Finally, at 3:57 p.m., she ran over to the CIBC branch in the Manotick Mews. The bank closed at 4 p.m., and she was too late. However, persistent as she is, Ms. Wilcox proceeded to bang on the bank window and, while receiving many looks from tellers inside, managed to get a copy of the poster.
By 6 p.m., Lilou Organics was closed and Ms. Wilcox and Ms. Schmidt began washing down the building, priming it with white paint and then painting the outside pink. They even painted a breast cancer pink ribbon on the building.
The last step was taking a photo and submitting it in to the contest. But by this time it was nearing 11 p.m. and any hope of sunlight was far beyond the skyline.
The pair was almost at a loss for what to do when Ms. Wilcox yelled out to a couple walking down Main St.
"Do you by any chance have floodlights?" she hollered.
Answering to the affirmative, the man rushed home and 45 minutes later arrived with two floodlights. The photo was taken and Lilou Organics submitted it to the contest at 11:51 p.m.
"It was so serendipitous," said Ms. Schmidt of how the series of events played out that day. "We asked each other afterwards, 'Did we just do that?'"
Now, Lilou Organics is the pinkest shop on the block and no doubt will attract customers. But more than that, Ms. Wilcox and Ms. Schmidt wanted to make a difference.
"We went pink," said Ms. Schmidt simply.
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