Update, November 3. Thank you to everyone who came in October to help us contribute to this great cause. See you again next year. In the meantime, make sure to schedule your screening.
Buy your dog a Mupp Cup in October. We send ten percent of what every one of them rings up to Fort Mill High School Crucial Catch, for cancer education, early detection, and patient support here in York County. There’s no coupon and no code. You don’t have to mention it at the table.
I didn’t add this to our list of charities because it’s a restaurant war. This is personal to me. I’m a breast cancer survivor. I caught mine early, and that made all the difference in my treatment.
Crucial Catch exists for exactly that. It’s the NFL and the American Cancer Society working on early detection, education, and getting people to screenings they’d otherwise skip. Early is the whole game.
Restaurant Wars itself is in its 11th year, October 1 through 31. Restaurants and fitness centers around Fort Mill each pick something to give from, then spend the month trying to out-give each other.
Where the Money Goes
Fort Mill High School joined Crucial Catch in 2013, alongside the Carolina Panthers, and the Athletic Booster Club has run the October drive every year since. The school has raised $161,653 so far. That’s first in South Carolina and second in the country, for one high school.
$161,653 raised by one high school. First in South Carolina, second in the country.
None of it disappears into a national account, either. The NFL has given more than $30 million to the American Cancer Society’s Crucial Catch, funding grants that have helped 1.8 million people get screenings and preventive care. Closer in, Crucial Catch money recently sent a $30,000 grant to Atrium Health Levine Cancer Institute to expand breast health services for uninsured women in this community. Close enough to home that you may know someone it reaches.
All of it grew out of one night. In 2009, two Fort Mill parents started a Pink Out football game for a teacher who was going through treatment. One of those parents died of lung cancer ten years later, and the game is still played every fall in her memory. This year’s is the 17th, on Friday, October 2. Gates at 6, kickoff at 7:30.