As a redhead, Kevin Frischkorn has never worn much pink. In October, that will change. Frischkorn is one of at least 10 local ambassadors committed to wearing pink every day of that month as part of the American Cancer Society’s Men Wear Pink campaign.
“It’s not only a fundraising campaign but also an awareness campaign,” said Richele Ward, senior development manager for the American Cancer Society’s northeast region. “We’re asking those gentlemen to step up in their communities and get their family, friends and their colleagues involved in the campaign.”
The campaign, previously known as Real Men Wear Pink, raised $12 million nationally in 2022, according to the American Cancer Society.
Frischkorn, a tax manager at Schneider Downs, has seen colleagues at the Downtown accounting firm participate for the past few years. After he shared his family’s history, one of them asked him if he would be willing to be an ambassador himself.
Frischkorn, 35, never met his grandmother; she died of breast cancer shortly before he was born. His mother battled breast cancer when he was a teenager, and has been cancer-free for 20 years. His stepmother had breast cancer more recently.
His wife is already shopping for his October wardrobe, and he knows that showing up in pink day after day — at work and on the sidelines of his 8-year-old’s hockey and soccer games — will provide an opportunity to talk about fundraising for breast cancer research.
“If they see me wearing pink over and over and over, they will ask questions,” he said.
For former Pitt quarterback Bill Stull, this October will mark his third consecutive year as a Men Wear Pink ambassador. He was approached for the campaign by his former Pitt teammate Dorin Dickerson, who had also been an ambassador and knew that Stull’s mother had died of breast cancer.
“Looking back on it, that was the slight nudge and motivation to go ahead and step into it and utilize the unfortunate circumstances that my family and I experienced, in a positive way,” said Stull, 36. “From that point, I just dove in. This will be my third year and I don’t plan on leaving until they tell me I can’t.”
In addition to wearing pink every day and posting about it on social media with help from his wife, Miranda, Stull also hosts a fundraiser in October at the Southern Tier Brewery on the North Shore. The American Cancer Society also runs fundraising events associated with the campaign, such as a guest bartending night.
For Stull, whose mother died on his sister’s birthday in October 12 years ago, the event has come to be therapeutic for his family.
“In the first couple years, it was very difficult, to say the least,” he said. “Now, it’s healing. We’re not just sitting there feeling sorry that we don’t have a mom. We’re doing something positive.”
The American Cancer Society is still looking for more ambassadors to participate this year, said Ward, and is open to businesses participating and dividing the pink days among its employees for the month of October.
“For all the people who are maybe considering doing this, stop considering and jump in,” said Stull. “My experience has been amazing.”
Anya Sostek: asostek@post-gazette.com
First Published: August 4, 2023, 9:30 a.m.
Updated: August 4, 2023, 10:46 p.m.