Sunscreen dispensers placed around Augusta to combat skin cancer

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – As summer is coming up, local leaders are stressing the importance of sunscreen.

May is Skin Cancer Awareness Month and the Sun Safe Team from the Georgia Cancer Center, along with the Augusta Canal Authority and others are installing sunscreen dispensers around Augusta.

The first of five dispensers was unveiled Monday at Enterprise Mill.

“I just want to change our culture towards sun protection in the southeast and I feel like this is a start to it if we can remind people to do the things they love every day,” Mitchell Hanson, a student at the Medical College of Georgia and the mastermind behind the project, says. “Being on trails and providing them the resources to do it for free.”

The organizers say melanoma is on the rise in Richmond County and the Georgia Cancer Center is looking to put a stop to it.

Unite in the Fight Against Caner provided funding, and IMPACT Melanoma was the inspiration for the initiative.

To learn more about Sun Safe Augusta and the Georgia Cancer Center head to their Facebook.

You can learn more about Unite in the Fight Against Cancer here.

Information on IMPACT Melanoma can be found here.

Copyright 2025 WRDW/WAGT. All rights reserved.