Pink Game fundraiser brings in more than $50,000 to fight cancer
The annual Team Schierl & Mada Pink Game for Cancer Saturday, Oct. 8, raised more than $50,000 to fight cancer. The event was a joint effort between Team Schierl, Mada Custom, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point (UWSP) Pointers football team and UWSP athletics.
Funds raised by the event will benefit multiple charities including the Breast Cancer Family Foundation (bcff.org), which promotes cancer awareness and prevention through presentations in youth health classes at central and northern Wisconsin area schools reaching more than 7,000 students within the last year; and the Joanne A. Suomi Memorial Fund, named after a Stevens Point resident who died from cancer. This fund benefits the Special Needs Aquatics Program (SNAP), which impacts hundreds of children in the Stevens Point community.
A near-capacity crowd of more than 3,100 fans, many wearing official 2016 Pink game T-shirts, filled Goerke Park to see the Pointers take on UW-Platteville.
The T-shirts were sold at the game and during promotional events on the UWSP campus in the buildup to the game as a fundraising effort for the 2016 charities. In addition, Fourth Avenue in front of the UWSP Health Enhancement Center has been named “PINK Street” for the month of October, in celebration of the event.
Official neon pink street signs were installed by the city of Stevens Point in conjunction with the Pink Week proclamation from Mayor Mike Wiza.
During the game, the UWSP football team wore custom neon pink and black jerseys to show its support for the cause. The jerseys were sold during the game via a silent auction. The winning bidders received the game-worn jerseys at the end of the game and additional silent auction items were sold which contributed to the funds raised by the event.
“It was another amazing year to watch UWSP, students, fans, the community and businesses come together in support of the Pink Game,” said Tim Schierl, co-CEO of Team Schierl Companies. “All of us are affected by cancer in some way and seeing this kind of overwhelming support is incredible.”
