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Management and employees in front of the special truck.
John Hernandez | Copper Area News
Employees sign the truck with wishes for relatives and survivors.
Copper Area News
October is “Breast Cancer Awareness Month”. It is an annual campaign to increase awareness of the disease and encourage women to take the necessary steps to detect the disease in its early stages. The month is used for fund raising walks and runs such as the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Besides raising money and awareness, the month is a time to remember victims of the disease and honor the survivors. Nearly 40,000 women die each year from breast cancer. One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer during their lifetime. Unfortunately most of us know someone who has had breast cancer. Many of us have had family members or friends that have had other forms of cancer.
A group of employees in the safety department of ASARCO Grupo at the Ray Mine thought outside the box and came up with an awareness campaign idea that is unique and effective. Nick Ferreira, safety and health manager first brought up the idea then members of the ASARCO Management Team added to it and got the ball rolling to paint one of its fleet trucks pink and gray. The pink for breast cancer and gray for brain cancer. Not just any truck but the world’s largest haul truck, the Liebherr T 282B. The truck has a 400 ton load capacity. Its overall height is 48 feet and it is over 50 feet in length. It is 30 feet wide. The tires are 12 feet in diameter and cost $60,000 each. A brand new Liebehrr will cost over $5 million.
At first the idea of a pink truck met with some doubt as some felt that none of the “macho” truck drivers would want to drive it. After talking with staff they decided to go ahead with the project. Two companies, Road Machinery and Taylor Made Irons helped with the project. It took 35 gallons of pink paint and 20 gallons of gray paint to complete the job. It was decided that any employee, vendor or contractor at the mine who had friends or family with any form of cancer could sign their name and write the names of family members who were victims of or survived cancer. Many chose to write a message about loved ones. ASARCO mine has over 800 employees. Pink and gray ribbon pins and cancer awareness wrist bands were passed out to all those that participated.
ASARCO allowed employees to bring some of their family under escort to view the truck and bring in cameras for the day so everyone could take pictures of themselves with the truck. George Herman spent nearly six hours operating a scissor lift to allow people to sign on the upper areas of the truck. George said he lost two family members to cancer. “It got very emotional; people started talking about loved ones that had passed away,” he said. “A few teared up.” George said that people have been putting the pictures on Facebook and Twitter and are getting a lot of responses from people who have viewed the photos. George said he received 200 responses on his Facebook page.
The pink truck sends a big message for breast cancer awareness. It honors cancer survivors and remembers the ones that have been tragically lost to the disease. As it transports and dumps ore every day it will also be delivering awareness that will provide help and inspire hope for those affected by breast cancer.
John Hernandez lives in Oracle. He is retired and enjoys writing and traveling. He is active in the Oracle Historical Society. He covers numerous public events, researches historical features and writes business/artist profiles.
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