City’s Childhood Cancer Awareness Campaign Aims to Raise $1M
At the beginning of the month, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton declared September Childhood Cancer Awareness Month in the city of Phoenix, following the national designation, in conjunction with the kickoff of Phoenix Children’s Hospital’s Time to Shine pediatric cancer fundraising campaign.
“Today begins Childhood Cancer Awareness month in the city of Phoenix,” said Stanton. “It gives us an important opportunity to raise awareness about pediatric cancer research and to thank, of course, the team here at Phoenix Children’s Hospital for their incredible work.
The campaign aims to raise $1 million for childhood cancer research, which now only receives four percent of the federal dollars given to the National Cancer Institute.
“We need to be giving more money to cancer research, particularly pediatric cancer research,” he said.
Funds raised from the campaign will support additions to the hospital’s cancer treatment centers, research and awareness.
One of the faces of the campaign, Sammy Cibulka, also spoke at the kick-off event at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, sharing his own story of overcoming childhood cancer and encouraging the community to donate to the Time to Shine campaign.
“I’m here just to share my story and why it’s important to me because I went through this and I understand where these people are coming from and I understand that this field needs as much support as it can get,” Cibulka said.
The campaign is being supported by several corporate sponsors, including the Arizona Diamondbacks, Cobblestone Auto Spa, Scottsdale Quarter and Plexus Worldwide.
“Growing up watching the Diamondbacks and growing up with some of the other corporations around here in the Valley, it just means a lot to see that they’re invested in such a great cause and to give back to the hospital,” said Cibulka. “All the kids here really need your help so it’s important to me and obviously it’s important to them, so I think it’s a wonderful thing that the companies are doing.”