Rydges South Bank turns pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month
Rydges South Bank in Brisbane has gone all out for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, with guests invited to think pink across the hotel.
Forget a pink ribbon at reception, this October, Rydges South Bank is turning pink from the lobby to the laundry as the Brisbane hotel throws its entire team behind Breast Cancer Awareness Month and local grassroots charity Be Uplifted.
Housekeeping carts will carry pink linen bags, maintenance has built pink donation boxes, front-of-house teams will don pink, bartenders will shake pink cocktails, the kitchen will bake pink cookies and pastries.
Guests can sleep, stay, sip, snap and stay for the cause, and even the flamingos are getting involved!
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At the centre of the month-long takeover will be a gloriously pink lobby installation featuring hot-pink velvet, giant flowers, pink arches and larger-than-life flamingos, co-created by Prop House Collective, creating an Instagram-worthy space designed to start conversations as well as raise funds.
Anyone – visitors, residents and guests alike – will be encouraged to make a gold coin donation, strike a pose and share their pink moment, while an October social media competition will see one participant win an overnight stay at Rydges South Bank.
Behind all the pink is a very serious purpose. Rydges South Bank has partnered with Brisbane-based, volunteer-run breast cancer charity Be Uplifted, which provides practical, emotional and financial assistance to local women and men undergoing breast cancer treatment and their families.
Founded in 2009 by breast cancer survivors Barbara Zimmerlie and Wendy Paterson, Be Uplifted now supports patients across 11 Brisbane hospitals and medical precincts.
Its help can be intensely practical, from counselling, food and household bills to medications, medical tests, transport to treatment, hospital parking, haircuts and care hampers.
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Rydges South Bank General Manager Chantel Messaoudi said that local focus was exactly why the hotel wanted to get behind the organisation.
“We are incredibly proud to support Be Uplifted, a home-grown Brisbane charity doing extraordinary work for people right here in our community,” Ms Messaoudi said.
“A breast cancer diagnosis affects far more than someone’s health. It impacts families, finances, work and everyday life, and Be Uplifted steps in with the kind of practical help that can make an enormous difference during an incredibly difficult time.
“It takes extraordinary courage, resilience and strength to navigate a breast cancer journey, and this October our entire Rydges South Bank family wants to stand behind the women, men and families doing exactly that.”
“That’s why this isn’t about putting a ribbon at reception for a month. We wanted every part of our hotel and every team to be involved.
“If all this pink starts conversations, raises awareness, creates some joy and, most importantly, raises money to help local people when they need it most, then we’ll have achieved something meaningful.”
Sleep pink
Guests can turn a Brisbane stay into direct support through Rydges South Bank’s special Stay for a Cause – Pink October accommodation package which features a River View Room or Suite, daily buffet breakfast for two, pink macaron treats and a bottle of rosé on arrival, valet parking and a 1pm late checkout, with $20 from every room, every night donated directly to Be Uplifted.
Drink pink
Across Bacchus and CBD, the hotel’s October menu will include a $10 Iced Strawberry Matcha, alongside specially created Pink Gin Sour and Lychee Cranberry Mocktail, with $2 from every featured cocktail and mocktail donated to Be Uplifted.
Eat pink
On Fridays 9, 16, 23 and 30 October, a special lobby cart will pop up with hotel team members selling homemade pink cookies and pastries while sharing the Be Uplifted story and raising funds.
Think pink
And from 26–31 October, guests and staff can have a crack at that great fundraising classic, guessing how many pink lollies are in the jar, with entries supporting the charity.
Wear it, share it, live it
Perhaps most importantly, Pink October won’t belong to one department as team members across the entire hotel embrace the cause. Housekeeping’s pink linen bags will travel the floors every day, pink donation boxes made by the maintenance team will appear throughout the property, and front office and CBD teams will sell Be Uplifted merchandise including pins, pens and keyrings.
It is a hotel-wide effort designed to make breast cancer awareness impossible to miss.
Be Uplifted is self-funded and volunteer-run, with donations directed to practical patient support. To put that into perspective, the charity says $35 can cover hospital parking for a treatment visit, $65 can provide a fuel voucher to help someone reach appointments, $150 can provide groceries and $450 can assist with essential medication.
So this October, Rydges South Bank has one request for Brisbane: Wear some pink, eat some pink, drink some pink, sleep pink, snap some pink, and help uplift someone who needs it.
