This year FC Cincinnati will continue their tradition of bringing awareness to Childhood Cancer Awareness month in September. Now a member of Major League Soccer, FCC’s efforts will be under the league’s “Kick Childhood Cancer” platform, allowing the club to expand its awareness efforts through league-wide programming.
MLS’ “Kick Childhood Cancer” initiative has helped put a brighter light on what types of cancers typically affect children, how children and their families cope with their diagnoses and help raise funds for further research.
Every year, almost 16,000 children under the age of 21 are diagnosed with cancer and almost one quarter of them will not survive their disease. Childhood cancer care-givers, charities and researchers have come together to use September as an annual recognition that more can be done to save children from the perils of a cancer diagnosis.
At each of the club’s four home games in September, a different local organization focusing on different aspects of supporting, caring for and curing children with cancers:
- Saturday, Sept. 7 vs. Toronto – Cancer Free Kids
- Wednesday, Sept. 18 vs. Atlanta – Dragonfly Foundation
- Saturday, Sept. 21 vs. Chicago – Cure Starts Now
- Sunday, Sept. 29 vs. Orlando – Ronald McDonald House Cincinnati
Each of the four organizations will be featured during pregame activities as the community partner of the match with pediatric cancer survivors participating in unique experiences including player walk-out escorts and the halftime shootout at select games. Each organization will also host a booth along the east concourse of the stadium at its designated game, as well.
The FC Cincinnati game against Toronto FC on Saturday, Sept. 7, will serve as the official game day kickoff to the month of recognitions with a yellow theme, the adopted color for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. Among the activities and awareness items scheduled for the Toronto game include:
- Special-edition pregame warm-up tops worn by both teams, which will also be available for sale beginning Friday, Aug. 30, at the FC Cincinnati Shop (43 East Fourth St.), through MLSStore.com, and other officially licensed retailers
- Special player jersey patches
- Yellow captain’s armbands
- A specially designed, yellow-themed adidas match ball
- Yellow goal nets
To further support their Kick Childhood Cancer partners, FC Cincinnati has two player appearances and outreach events scheduled.
The first event will be tomorrow evening, Tuesday, Aug. 27, when the club visits the Ronald McDonald House of Cincinnati (341 Erkenbrecher Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45229). FCC player Justin Hoyte will visit with families staying at the facility and play party games with the children at the center’s annual “Unbirthday Party.”
On Thursday, Sept. 5, Kekuta Manneh and Przemyslaw Tyton will support Cancer Free Kids’ fundraiser at Braxton Brewing’s rooftop patio (27 W 7th St, Covington, KY 41011) from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. The event is open to the public and a portion of all sales during the event will be donated to Cancer Free Kids.
ABOUT THE PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS
The Dragonfly Foundation helps pediatric cancer families and patients find strength, courage and joy throughout treatment and recovery in the form of support and comfort services.
Cancer Free Kids seeks to eradicate cancer as a life-threatening disease in children by funding promising research that might otherwise go un- or under-funded.
The Cure Starts Now focused on research to find a cure for DIPG, a rare form of pediatric brain cancer.
Cincinnati’s Ronald McDonald House provides a supportive home-away-from-home for families and their children receiving medical treatment in the area, regardless of their ability to pay.
FC Cincinnati return to the field on Saturday, Aug. 31, when the team travels to play FC Dallas at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas. First kick is set for 8 p.m. ET, and the game will be televised live on WSTR 64, streamed on FloFC (in-region) and ESPN+ (out-of-region), carried on the radio on WDJO with an audio stream on TuneIn (WDJO) and fccincinnati.com.
The Orange and Blue return to Nippert Stadium for the first of their final four home games of the season on Saturday, Sept. 7, when the team hosts Toronto FC in the “Kick Childhood Cancer” game at 7:30 p.m. Individual and group tickets are available for that game – and all remaining home games – at fccincinnati.com/tickets or by calling 513-977-5425 (KICK).
For up-to-the-minute information about FC Cincinnati, visit the team’s official website at fccincinnati.com, or follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook at @FCCincinnati.
