Chicago-based hair care company TGIN is continuing its founder’s mission of helping uninsured and under-insured women battle breast cancer through a partnership with the rideshare service, Lyft. Together, they provide women ride credits to get to their breast health appointments.
Chris-Tia Donaldson founded Thank God It's Natural in 2009. In 2015, just as the hair care products for women with textured hair expanded into Target stores, Donaldson was diagnosed with stage four metastatic breast cancer.
"During this journey, one of her favorite quotes was, 'Cancer was just one storm. It didn’t define me,' so she battled on," said Piper Farrell, Donaldson’s sister and managing partner of TGIN.
TGIN continued to grow, expanding into more retailers. Sadly, though, Donaldson lost her battle with cancer in November 2021.
"Chris-Tia was an amazing aunt. She was truly a force to be reckoned with," said Aris Singleton, Donaldson’s niece and co-managing partner with Farrell.
That force is still being felt through the TGIN Foundation and its partnership with Lyft.
"We support under-insured and uninsured women with our Lyft partnership to get them to the doctors for their breast health appointments," Singleton said.
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Women can go online and apply for a Lyft credit that they can use to get a ride to mammograms or other breast-related appointments.
Neosho Ponder, a Washington, D.C.-based breast cancer advocate, is also a six-year survivor of the disease, who used the Lyft credit last year to avoid paying expensive parking fees outside her doctor’s office.
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"I've had eight surgeries total on my chest. I've had seven specific to my reconstruction, and the Lyft credit helped me just last year because I was going to a follow up appointment," Ponder said.
On Friday, Oct. 21, TGIN Foundation will host its 5th annual "Cocktails for the Cure," a fundraiser aiming to raise $50,000 to continue Donaldson’s vision.
"Travel expenses, parking, childcare -- these were the things that she wanted to help those underinsured women with," Farrell said.
For more information or to register for “Cocktails for the Cure,” click here.
