Cab company charity drive expands in second year

If you’re looking to hail a cab this month, don’t settle for the traditional yellow taxi. Think pink instead.

All this month, Baldwin’s own Dawson Taxi will be sending out a pink cab and donating funds to charity in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This will be the second year in which Dawson has participated in the fundraising initiative, and this time it is being joined by three other cab companies: the Checker Cab Company of Merrick, Sunset Taxi in Franklin Square, and Dawson’s sister company, Nassau Taxi, in Roosevelt. For each pink taxi put out on the road, each company will donate $100 per week to the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer program.

The Taxicab, Limousine and Paratransit Association, an international transportation association comprising more than 100,000 cabs, conceived the Pink Ride initiative last year, and Jason Verity, vice president of Dawson Taxi, immediately got involved. Verity said he has an aunt who was diagnosed with breast cancer a few years ago, and the cause hit close to home. He pitched the idea to his mother and father, who own Dawson Taxi. “They were just as excited as I was,” he said, “and told me to go with it.”

Last October, Dawson Taxi donated $1 from every fare the pink cab collected, a total of $1,577. “The response has been overwhelming,” said Verity. “Even after October we got millions of calls from people requesting to [ride] in the car.”

This year, Verity brought up the Pink Ride initiative at a Long Island Taxi Transportation Operators Association meeting and found a supporter in Freeport resident Phil Fortuna, who owns both Checker Cab and Sunset Taxi.

Both cab companies are headquartered near their respective Long Island Rail Road stations, and Verity says he hopes this year’s earnings will increase with the additional cabs.

The pink cabs charge no more than traditional yellow cars, and require no additional donations from passengers. Their drivers are not allowed to accept donations directly, however, as a result of the large number of passengers who wanted to chip in last year, inspired patrons can now make $10 donations directly to the American Cancer Society by texting “Pink” to 41518. (The charge will appear on their next phone bill.) Passengers may also make secure, online donations with a credit card at a special website created by the American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org/pinkride.