The Story Behind Our Ribbon Series Collection
In 2011, we had an incredible shock. Lynne, an original founder of Elite Service, announced that she had breast cancer. There wasn’t a single indicator towards this possibility — no family history, no signs of illness; she just didn’t fit the profile.
She came through it successfully, only missing three days of work, as is her personality and work ethic. Through it all, she remained grateful for many things in her life — her family, her experiences, the fact that her children were grown — she would rather she had it than a young mom with small children to care for — and she repeated her mantra, "Failure is NOT an option!" This saying was all too familiar to her family and the Elite employees. Whenever anything difficult would happen, Lynne would remind everyone that "Failure is NOT an option!" in her daily pep talks. This mantra has sustained Elite Service through tough times when our world was not as easy to navigate as other times. And she has always been a shining example of this.
Failure is NOT an option!
So when it came time for her son–in–law, Ron Yoder, a longtime Elite driver and trainer who is married to Lynne’s youngest daughter, Rebecca, to get a new truck, he ordered a white Peterbilt and planned a simple but elegant design to honor the leader of our company and her mantra.
142 (Check out pictures HERE) became known as the pink ribbon/breast cancer truck. The difference that sets it apart from other awareness trucks remains that simple saying written under the pink ribbon.
Failure is NOT an option!
Here at Elite we were so thankful for the positive outcome from what is a very scary initial diagnosis. We wanted to do something to help those who were struggling with this terrible illness. After a few brainstorming sessions and a trip to the Louisville Midatlantic Truck show, Lynne’s other son–in–law and Elite’s Shop Director, John Porter, suggested we call it "The Ribbon Series". 142 is only the first truck in the series. A portion of the revenue generated by that truck will be donated to a local breast cancer charity called "Help the Fight". It is a completely volunteer organization, so 100% of their donations go towards helping patients struggling with breast cancer (Read their story here: Help The Fight.org). We also designed a shirt around 142 with a farm scene in the background, highlighting the roots of the company born in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania (Want one? Look here ShopESI). Five dollars from the sale of each shirt goes towards Help the Fight.
At the 2015 Keystone Diesel Nationals, Elite Service sold the Limited Edition pink ribbon/142 t-shirts and also took donations in exchange for a plate of food. Ron Yoder smoked pulled pork and Diana Porter, CIO/Marketing Director for Elite and Lynne’s oldest daughter, baked cupcakes to give to people who stopped by our trucks at the show in exchange for a donation. Altogether, we raised $822 to donate to Help the Fight. Ron and Rebecca Yoder presented the check at the end of the day.
Our plan is to design additional trucks in the Ribbon Series Collection to bring support and awareness to other worthwhile organizations. Please check back here and also follow us on Facebook for more additions to the Ribbon Series Collection in the future. If you would like to donate, please see below for details on how you can make a difference.
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