Cities: Pottstown, PA, and Philadelphia, PA

Date: Friday, February 24^th

We were fortunate enough to visit one of our favorite high schools, Pottstown High School, about 45 minutes northwest of Philadelphia.  Pottstown High School has been unbelievably supportive with Mascots for a Cure and our effort to help fight childhood cancer.  Their entire school district has done our Chubby Checker Twist Challenge, they have sold our Mascots for a Cure shields in September during Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, and they have helped fundraise in countless other ways.

We were able to perform our Knighting Ceremony on both Dave Woodley and the amazing Trojan Men mascots.  Pottstown High School also hosted a school pep rally to welcome Mascots for a Cure on their campus.  Their band was playing, their cheerleaders were dancing, and their mascots were having fun with the student body and teachers.  It was such an honor and special experience to be able to spend the afternoon with Dave Woodley, the amazing staff and students of Pottstown High School. Once a Trojan, Always a Trojan!

Gallery (Pottstown High School):

Friday night we took three of our Courageous Knights and Royal Families out for a fun and memorable night at the Philadelphia 76ers vs Washington Wizards game.  We were able to get pre-game access to watch the players warm up, got a special visit in our seats by Franklin the Blue Dog, and we were even able to meet some of the players after the game.  Mascots for a Cure and our Courageous Knights were able to spend some quality time with both Bradley Beal and Otto Porter from the Washington Wizards.  We took a lot of photos with them and Bradley Beal even did the Chubby Checker Twist Challenge with one of our Courageous Knights, Layla!  This was a night that was special for all of us and that we will all remember.

Gallery (Sixers Game):

Media:

Reading Eagle
http://www.readingeagle.com/news/article/pep-rally-at-pottstown-high-school-helps-children-with-cancer

WFMZ-TV 69 News
http://www.wfmz.com/news/lehigh-valley/mascots-for-a-cure-get-down-in-pottstown/358090197

Knighting Ceremony: Knighted the two Trojan Men mascots and Mr. Dave Woodley into our Mascots for a Cure family as part of our Characters Who Care

Mascots: Sir Roland BraveHeart and Trojan Men of Pottstown High School

Lace Up and Twist Rally: Pottstown High School

City: Syracuse, NY

Dates: Wednesday, February 22nd – Thursday, February 23rd

We teamed up with the great people at Crouse Hospital and held a Lace Up and Twist Away Childhood Cancer Rally at the Pomeroy School of Nursing at Crouse Hospital.  There were approximately 30 wonderful nursing students who were so much fun and had such great energy as they took on the Chubby Checker Twist Challenge!  Some of the nursing students purchased Mascots for a Cure t-shirts and even made an $80 donation from their Honor Society.  It was absolutely amazing to get the opportunity to work together with Bob Allen and Christine Brown on this project.  They were incredibly gracious to open up their school and hospital for us to record all kinds of fun promotional material.  We were able to create a partnership with Crouse Hospital that will last for years to come.

Gallery (Wednesday):

On Thursday, February 23rd we teamed up with Syracuse University, the Syracuse Cheer Team, Otto the Orange, and the Syracuse Women’s Basketball team to perform the Chubby Checker Twist Challenge during the first quarter of the game.  We had access to the entire stadium for taking photographs and shooting footage for this great visit in Syracuse.  It was so amazing to be able to go on the floor of the Syracuse game and see our message played on the big screen, to get the entire cheer team involved and the entire crowd to take our Chubby Checker Twist Challenge!  We look forward to being able to do this exact same concept with other universities across the nation!

We were able to connect with the head of security about Mascots for a Cure, how it got started, about our mission, and about the journey we were about to take.  He was so inspired that he opened up his wallet and donated $60 to our cause and mission.  He was a wonderful man and really opened up the Carrier Dome to us for this event.

Gallery (Thursday):

Knighting Ceremony: Knighted Otto the Orange and Scooch and Pops as part of our “Characters Who Care.”

Mascots: Sir Roland BraveHeart, Otto the Orange from Syracuse University, Scooch and Pops from the Syracuse Chiefs

Cities: Woborn, MA, and Boston, MA

Date:  Tuesday, February 21^st

Coming off of the Philly tour launch, we were ready to go and had Boston in our sights armed with our new MFAC Shield Blankets that arrived just in time.

Tuesday morning came fast, and the road was calling so we drove up through New York City and over to Woburn, MA, for our very first Rotary Club presentation and Chubby Checker Twist Challenge.  It was such a pleasure to have lunch with the fine folks of the Woburn Rotary Club, to present to them about Mascots for a Cure, and to get them to take the Chubby Checker Twist Challenge.  It was a lot of fun to see them all smiling and having a great time while taking the Chubby Checker Twist Challenge.  They were kind enough to donate $36 to our cause and also purchase some of our Mascots for a Cure gear.

After the Rotary Club meeting in Woburn, we drove to Boston to do a Lace Up and Twist Rally at the iconic Cheers on Beacon Hill.  We met the wonderful staff there including the owner, Mr. Tom Kershaw.  We recorded a very fun Chubby Checker Twist Challenge with Mr. Kershaw and his staff where they challenged the Founder of Sam Adams, Jim Koch, and their other Cheers location at Fanueil Hall. Oh, and Mr. Kershaw and Cheers were incredibly kind and generous with their $10,000 donation to our cause and Mascots for a Cure.  What a way to start off our Lace Up and Twist Away Childhood Cancer Tour! It is these kinds of donations that will help us help kids and families battling cancer.

Mascots: Sir Roland BraveHeart, Slider from the Portland Seadogs

Rotary Club: Woburn Rotary Club

Lace Up and Twist Rally: Cheers Boston – Beacon Hill

Gallery:

Media:

Boston Sun

https://thebostonsun.com/2017/03/03/mascots-for-a-cure-receives-great-donation-from-cheers-owner-kershaw/

Beacon Hill Times

https://beaconhilltimes.com/2017/03/10/mfac-receives-great-donation-from-cheers-owner-kershaw/

Lace Up and Twist Away Childhood Cancer Tour

Daily Blog Updates

City: Philadelphia, PA
Date:  Monday, February 20th, 2017
Hospital Visit: N/A

We kicked off our Lace Up and Twist Away Childhood Cancer Tour in the City of Brotherly Love on FOX 29’s Good Day Philadelphia!  The Tour will take us through 36+ cities over the next 48 days or so with one goal in mind…TO CRUSH CHILDHOOD CANCER!  Two of our Courageous Knights, Layla, and Max joined us along with a handful of mascots to help kick things off.  Derek, Layla, and Reggy were all interviewed as we talked about our tour and our mission in the fight against childhood cancer.  Layla personally challenged Taylor Swift and Laurie Hernandez to take the Chubby Checker Twist Challenge.  If this first show was any indication, this tour is going to be a lot of fun!

Watch the Good Day Philadelphia segment on Facebook.

After our great morning show on Fox 29, the mascots and MFAC staff went to JJ Bootleggers to game plan for our first of what will be many Lace Up and Twist Rallies.  It is because of the support of local businesses like this that this type of effort is possible.

At 1 PM we marched over to one of the most historic landmarks in US history to hold our Lace Up and Twist Rally in front of the beautiful Independence Hall.  Three of our Courageous Knights and Royal Families joined us for this rally as well as some kind hearted locals who all helped to raise awareness and funds and to twist away childhood cancer!  It was a beautiful day in Philadelphia and a great way to officially kick off our tour!

Throughout the tour we will be engaging with various groups to Lace Up and Twist!

How you can help:

1. Get your Lacey’s Laces from Shoe Carnival Stores or online at shoecarnival.com/lacey.  This initiative is in partnership with the American Cancer Society, Coaches  vs. Cancer, Princess Lacey’s Legacy and Mascots For A Cure.
2. Take the Chubby Checker Twist Challenge by twisting for 36 seconds to represent the number of kids diagnosed with cancer in the US every day, donate to Mascots For A Cure, and challenge others to do the same! Post your videos to every social media outlet you can and be sure to direct donations to mascotsforacure.org/donate or the tour campaign at our GoFundMe page.
3. Reach out to us if you or someone you know is battling childhood cancer.  We look forward to helping as many kids and families as we can.

Knighting Ceremony: Ceremonial Knighting with Layla

Media: “Good Day Philadelphia” – Fox 29, CBS 3, ABC, NBC, My New Philly, My Philly Mag

Mascots: Sir Roland BraveHeart, Reggy the Purple Party Dude, Rocky Blue Winkle, Trojan Men, Jurdy the Hero of Happiness, and the Fatjacks BBQ Mascot

Hotel: N/A

Rotary Club: N/A

Lace Up and Twist Rally: Independence Mall

Gallery:

All right, PHILADELPHIA…The The Lace Up and Twist Away Childhood Cancer Tour kicks off tomorrow with an appearance on Fox 29’s Good Day Philadelphia between 9:30am and 10am and then a Lace Up and Twist Rally at Independence Mall at 1pm!!! Please spread the word and join us for the Rally to help Lace Up and Twist Away Childhood Cancer.

Many Thanks!

Childhood Cancer…We Are Coming For You!!!

Keep tabs on the Tour on our website, get your laces at www.ShoeCarnival.com/Lacey, and help us Fight Childhood Cancer!

 

City: Syracuse, NY

Hospital Visit: Crouse Hospital – Neonatal Intensive Care Unit

Date: Wednesday, February 15^th

This was a HUGE day for Mascots for a Cure and one we will never forget. It was a day that we would be working with our new International Celebrity Spokesperson, Chubby Checker, to create some meaningful content to drive messaging to help with the Lace Up and Twist Away Childhood Cancer Tour and our overall fundraising and general efforts to support kids and families battling childhood cancer.

The day started with an early wakeup call to do a fun media appearance on News Channel 9 WSYR’s Bridge Street show in Syracuse with Chubby Checker and our Courageous Knights, Layla and Max.  It was a great way to start off our media blitz and share our story.  During the show we met this amazing band called Decades Rewind and we were invited to not only go to their show that night in Syracuse as their guests, but they also invited all of us on stage and talked about Mascots for a Cure and our mission and to do the Chubby Checker Twist Challenge as they performed “The Twist”!

After the show, we shifted gears and headed over to Crouse’s Pomroy School of Nursing where we had things set up to shoot with Chubby, Sir Roland Braveheart, and our Courageous Knights.  We spent the entire day with Chubby Checker doing a lot of challenge videos, promo videos, and other material that we could use for our campaign, Lace Up and Twist Away Childhood Cancer Tour and Mascots for a Cure overall.

In between our shoot at the nursing school and our next stop, we were invited to walk through Crouse Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit to see first-hand the incredible work they do there.  Some of the babies were smaller than the size of a hand.  Hard to believe, and a truly unique experience!

To finish things off the group shot over to the home of the Syracuse Chiefs Baseball Club, NBT Bank Stadium, for a few final green screen shots.  It was such an honor and pleasure to meet the King of the Twist in person! Chubby was such a humble man that showed a lot of passion and care for what we are doing with Mascots for a Cure. We couldn’t be happier to have Chubby on board to represent MFAC as our official International Celerity Spokesperson.  To think that an icon and music legend has teamed up with us…AMAZING!

Media:

Bridge Street NewsChannel 9 WSYR

http://www.localsyr.com/bridge-street/take-the-twist-challenge-to-help-cure-childhood-cancer/656833269

Gallery: