Raleigh homes turn pink to support breast cancer survivors, raise awareness

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Just before sunrise Wednesday morning volunteers pulled a wagon full of pink flowers, buckets, banners, and signs to Robbin Vick Dillard's home in Northeast Raleigh.

Dillard was selected for the Pink Porch Project, where volunteers transform porches, balconies, and front doors into bold symbols of strength, hope, and resilience for breast cancer survivors and women undergoing breast cancer treatment

"I'm elated and honored," Dillard said through tears. She became emotional following her pink pork transformation.

Dillard is a two-time breast cancer survivor. "When your doctor tells you that you have cancer, that's the hardest thing in the world to hear. And so people think, oh, the big C death. No, no, you can survive. I have. I have survived."

The Pink Porch Project is in its second year.

The founder Saideh Brown, who is a home and garden stylist teamed up with Lowe's Creator Network and Let's Ride NC for the porch transformations.

Brown reflected on the first porch reveal of October.

"When you actually see a woman who was a double cancer survivor, when you see her look at her home when we took the time out of our day to just show her how much we care and she started crying. I think we all kind of got real watery-eyed this morning," Brown said.

Her mission is rooted in a deeply personal story. Her mother died from Ovarian Cancer. She said treatment can be isolating and this is her way to support to women on their journey.

"This is really a service project where we show up love these women and show them that they have support. And I wish someone had done this, just decorated my mom's porch when she was going through treatment," Brown shared.

This year the Pink Project also collaborated with the Pink Faith Foundation, founded by Karen Bennett Sutton. She said the gesture may seem small but the impact is huge.

"It's big because a lot of women are just happy to know that there's somebody there that's thinking about me."

The Pink Faith Foundation is an organization that works to spread awareness about breast cancer. It also supports men and women through their diagnosis.

It's a journey that Sutton knows well. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in October of 2022. She completed her treatment four months later in February of 2023.

"Immediately after I rang that bill God said, This is not for you, this is not your journey. You went through it, but it is not for you."

"I need you to support other women and men because men do get breast cancer as well. But I need for you to reach out to these women and show them that they don't have to fight it alone," Sutton tells ABC11.

On the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, four homes were decorated including Nakima Clark's home. She was diagnosed with triple-positive breast cancer in 2023. It's an aggressive form of breast cancer that can spread rapidly.

Clark said she cancelled her scheduled mammogram in December of 2022. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in August of 2023.

"My tumor was less than two millimeters in size most people who are diagnosed with triple positive breast cancer have to have chemo. But because my tumor was so small, I was able to do a clinical trial. I say timing is everything because of how small it was. Had I gone in December of 2022, it probably wouldn't have been detected," she explained.

Clark's last treatment was in December 2024. She remains cancer-free and now encourages others to not skip their routine mammograms.

"I've had many friends and family call me to say I've never had a mammogram, and because of you, I'm going to get one or can you go with me to get a mammogram? And that's what I'm here for."

Clark's house was decorated with a breast cancer awareness banner, yard signs, pink flowers, and a pink light bulb above her garage. Her house will be lit in pink all month long. She was brought to tears about her porch makeover.

"There may be somebody in my neighborhood who will ride by and see this sign and get triggered a mammogram. So anyway, I can always play a part in supporting breast cancer. I'm going to always, always be there," Clark shared.

The Pink Porch Project will continue through October. The launch party for the initiative was on Wednesday night at Anthony's La Piazza Prime.

Solis Mammography will be present at the launch party scheduling people for a mammogram.

"The goal is so that they don't feel alone and they feel seen and feel heard. When a woman's going through chemo, she's in that room by herself. So to know when you're coming home, your porch is decorated, your light bulb is pink, and there are people that are there to love you it's a game-changer," said Brown.

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