Hope Fight Cure: Driving Breast Cancer Awareness

Have you ever wondered why a nationwide Auto Hauling company based out of Rhode Island was called Virginia Transportation?

The simple and bittersweet explanation is that we are named in honor and in memory of Virginia Doire, the mother of VTC’s President. Virginia passed away from breast cancer many years ago, but she is still with us every single day in name and in spirit.

While the reason behind our name is a poignant one, it is also the driving force behind our most recent custom breast cancer awareness truck project.

This project all started when one of our Auto Haulers, Greg, was eligible for a brand new big bunk truck. Since we were going to have to place an order for the unit anyway, our Fleet Equipment Manager, Bill, reached out to Greg to see what he might want. After the two of them worked out what kind of transmission, what kind of engine, what kind of trailer and the other various specs Greg wanted, the last question left to answer was the color.

Unsure of what color he wanted but trusting of Bill’s instincts, Greg told Bill to surprise him.

A couple of weeks later, while on home time, Greg received a call from Bill. Being that we want our Auto Haulers to enjoy their time off, we don’t typically reach out to them while they’re on home time unless it’s very important. Greg knew this so he answered the phone immediately. Their conversation went something like this:

“I know you said to surprise you… but hot pink” Bill stated.

“I’m listening…” Greg said with a slight twinge of skepticism in his voice.

“We’re thinking hot pink.” Bill repeated.

A few weeks after the order for the truck was placed, Greg came up with an idea. Even though there was the potential that his idea would get shot down, he phoned Bill again.

“It was a week or two later, I called Bill back and said ‘What do you think about a breast cancer awareness campaign?'”

The idea had to be run by the Senior Management Team, but to say that our they were on board with the idea is an understatement.

What started as a pipe dream slowly became samples of tailor-mixed paint colors, mock ups of custom graphics and specialty lighting. During the initial planning phase, the phrase ‘Are we really doing this?’ was spoken more than once. However, over the months that followed, our team’s plans truly began taking on a life of their own… So much so that we ended up ordering not one, but two of these custom units for our fleet.

While the Team did their best to keep the secret project under wraps, word of the custom breast cancer awareness truck project began to spread. So did the excitement. Despite the project taking about 2 years to come to fruition, that excitement never waned.

The fruits of our Team’s labor were finally revealed a few weeks ago when the custom breast cancer awareness trucks were delivered to their assigned Auto Haulers. Dressed in black t-shirts that mirror the truck graphics, Greg and Rick received the keys to their new custom hot pink awareness-mobiles.

When asked why they wanted to get behind the wheel of a truck like this, both Greg and Rick have their own reasons for wanting to quite literally drive awareness.

Here is Greg’s story:

Here’s Rick’s story:

Greg his the nail on the head when he said that these trucks won’t cure cancer… But they will drive awareness and start conversations. For this reason, we are proud to add these custom pink Peterbilt 389’s to our fleet. These trucks aren’t just for us though… They’re for the mothers and fathers, the sisters and brothers, the daughters and sons, the grandmothers and grandfathers, the aunts and the uncles, the nieces and nephews, the cousins, the friends, the coworkers, the caregivers, the strangers we haven’t met yet, the survivors, and for Virginia.