“She said she was feeling okay, physically, but the first thing I asked her was if she wanted to keep working and she said she did. I asked how we could help her, and she said, ‘raise money for Dana Farber Cancer Institute.’ That was the inspiration for.” OOFOS co-founder Lou Panaccione recalls over Zoom the moment when Duncan Finigan, the company’s Brand Leader and Marketing Director, told him she had been diagnosed with Stage IV breast cancer.
Project Pink was launched that year as a way to give back and support breast cancer research. In addition to donating a percentage of all sales on OOFOS.com to Dana Farber Cancer Institute and The Jimmy Fund throughout the year, in the month of October, 100 percent of profits on Project Pink-specific styles would also be donated to the cause. Special events also became part of the campaign. That August, for example, the first yearly Pan-Mass bike-a-thon took place in Boston, to raise funds.
While unfortunately, Finnegan passed away in May of 2019, her legacy lives on. “Duncan saw Project Pink get to be meaningful, and we have kept it up in her honor,” says Panaccione.