Thanks to the sales of the bright pink T-shirts Dowagiac’s Randy Melvin and his team at D&R Sports cranked out last month, the local business owner has been able to give quite a few greenbacks to the Lee Memorial Foundation’s fight against breast cancer.

Melvin handed a check for $400 to foundation Development Coordinator Beth Cripe Tuesday morning inside his shop, located downtown near the intersection of Front and Main streets. The money will go toward the charity’s annual Tree of Love program, which helps cover the cost of mammograms for uninsured and underinsured women in Cass County.

The donation is paid for with the profits he made from sales of the limited run pink shirts the shop produced for the 2017 “Pink Out” event, which was hosted in conjunction with the last Dowagiac Chieftain football home game of the year Oct. 20.

D&R Sports has worked with Dowagiac Union High School to produce specially made apparel since the school began organizing the Pink Out — a game designed to raise awareness for Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October — around six years ago, Melvin said. He takes on the job without commission, and sells the shirts for $8, with most of the price going toward paying for printing and materials.

For every shirt sold, he also donates $1 to charity.

The business owner said he sold more than 400 of the shirts for this year’s event, surpassing last year’s sales by around 100, he said.

“It is the largest amount we have ever sold,” Melvin said.

The shirts, which have a different design every year, have started becoming a sort of collectable for many in town, with people ordering one every year in order to stay up to date, Melvin said.

“I see people wearing these pink shirts all over town,” he said.

Given that this year’s Pink Out game served as the kick off for the Tree of Love, Melvin figured that donating the profits of the shirts to the campaign was a natural move, he said.

The $400 donation is just one many that the foundation has received for this year’s Tree of Love since kicking off the campaign last month, Cripe said. The Dowagiac Honor Credit Union branch has already made $500 contribution, and the school district and Dowagiac Athletic Boosters will be making sizable donations as well, she said.

“Cancer has affected so many in this community, so when people hear about some way they can help they always step up,” Cripe said. “It is so heartwarming to see.”

The Lee Memorial Foundation, the fundraising arm of Dowagiac’s Borgess-Lee Memorial Hospital, is looking to raise $9,000 for this year’s Tree of Love campaign, which will help more than 100 women in the local community. This year’s tree lighting ceremony will take place at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 29, outside the hospital, at 420 W. High St.

People interested in making a contribution to the campaign may contact Cripe at (269) 783-3026 or at Beth.Cripe@ascension.org. This year’s fundraiser will run through December.