Color Me Pink is a 14-year-old business that specializes and offers services such as postmastectomy, DME, custom fit bra boutique and more. This local business offers comfort, reassurance, peace of mind, a confidence boost and much more for each client that it cares for. The best way to see the impact this beautiful and quaint local shop has on the surrounding Middle Georgia Community is to hear it straight from the heart of the clients and community members themselves.

The first group that I had the pleasure to sit down and share time with was a vibrant group of women, varying in ages and life experiences, who proudly refer to themselves as the Tickled Pink Stitchers. This group gathers every Monday afternoon at the Warner Robins Shop location to volunteer their time and love of crochet and knitting to support other local community members coping with cancer, premature births, etc. This group was formed from within the shop as it receives multiple donations of yarn, granny squares, fabrics, etc.

This wonderful group of ladies comes together to turn yarn scraps, granny square patches and more into blankets, shawls, and cover-ups for cancer patients during chemo therapy sessions. These items act as a “warm hug” from each of these ladies, one of which has her own personal cancer story. These ladies say they value the shop’s hospitality in offering them a place to gather, grow and create gifted items for the cancer community, as well as newborn babies delivered in Houston County.

As I interviewed each member, each echoed the support and friendships they have built with one another in meeting each week to create gifts for others. There is no doubt that support, friendship and love comes across to the community with each hand-crafted gift that is received. As we closed out our time together, we discussed that their mission is to help heal hearts “one stitch at a time” and remain a close knit group (pun on words intended).Thanks for the support of Judy Mason and Color Me Pink for providing them a place to gather, grow and give back to the community.

Next, I had the special opportunity to meet with some local community members who were more than happy to share the influence and impact Judy and Color Me Pink had in their lives throughout their cancer journey. Olivia Frazier says she met Judy while they both worked together at a previous company and had no idea that she would later refer to this coworker and friend as an angel from God. Olivia says there is no doubt that “God designed Judy Mason to be a part of her journey,” and she feels that when it comes to finding people like that in the community, “those people are hard to find or are few and far between because they just don’t make people like that anymore.” Olivia recalls Judy organizing a holiday dinner where everyone brought a hot dish and gathered together one Christmas to laugh together, and to share love and kindness with one another. She recalls Judy showing up with gifts for all the women and thinking what an act of kindness that was because, in reality, it was the services Judy and her shop offered that were the true gifts to all these women of different ages, cultures and races. Olivia says that Judy was always available for a prayer, an encouraging word, and to share a smile; being able to come to the shop for fittings for prosthesis, wigs, etc. was always a kind and caring experience. Judy is more than happy to pray with clients, which is extremely special in those very personal and hard moments.

Helen Byrd, a cancer survivor, says that Judy’s love for this community is extremely special and extends outside the walls of her shop too. Helen shared about the Cancer Serenity Garden off of Russell Parkway that Judy worked hard to attain because she knows that there is a lot of cancer in Middle Georgia. It was important to Judy to create a special tranquil place for others to go to meditate, pray, or just be still and alone with their thoughts. Helen says that she and her husband, who are both cancer survivors, have a special brick in the garden in honor of their fight against cancer and she has one in memory and honor of her mother, whom passed away from breast cancer. Helen shares that not only is Judy one of the nicest people she knows, having sought to open a much-needed facility for the cancer community, but to have also worked so hard to find and develop a place for cancer patients, survivors, and caretakers alike to go to refuel their souls and minds. This speaks volumes of just how far Judy’s loving reach extends throughout our community.

What inspires a person to choose to open up a business that undoubtedly connects with the hearts of community members and take on the task of filing and working with insurance companies too? The answer is the heart of a woman who saw a need within her local community and took upon herself to fill it. As I sat with Judy, I learned the many attributes she feels are important to fulfill the role...being a good listener, full of compassion, and above all a willingness to just be present with the clients in those extremely hard and heart-wrenching times. The times when hair loss occurs, physical appearances are altered, when looking at oneself in the mirror is extremely hard and painful before and after reconstruction surgery occurs or has failed. To be a friend in those moments isn’t easy, but Judy feels it is not only necessary, but needed and so very important to one’s ability to keep pressing on in the fight against cancer.

As I looked around the shop, it was clear that Judy’s mission to be such a friend is being fulfilled through the services offered within her shop. Color Me Pink is able to assist clients with everything from mastectomy products, a variety of breast prosthesis, bras, scarves, wigs, pocketed swimwear, drain pillows, etc. In addition to offering services to fulfill the needs of cancer patients within this community, the shop also extends its services to other community members as well, by offering plus size bra fittings, nursing bras, breast pumps, shapewear and an assortment of gift items and jewelry. Judy sought to obtain certification through the American Board of Prosthesis and became licensed to accept and file insurance claims for clients as well. Whatever needed to be done to care for the clients is exactly what she has been doing for 14 years

Recently, after a whole lot of thinking things over and praying daily about it, Judy and her husband made the decision to retire this year. This has led to the next mission for Judy, which is to find someone who has a serving heart and is willing to carry on the legacy of love and community support that she has spent years building, one client, aka community member, at time. Despite the recent unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, Color Me Pink doors are open, with safety and social distancing being observed and continuing to do what it does best, bringing community members together...one fit, one stitch at a time, straight from the heart.