SYRACUSE, N.Y. (NCC News) — Today is the last day of September, which means it is the last day to drink and donate in Central New York. September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month. However, like many other aspects of life during the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing awareness to this initiative required additional creativity this year.
Paige’s Butterfly Run, a local nonprofit that donates all proceeds to the Water Center for Children’s Cancer and Blood Disorders at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital, has partnered with National Grid and Talking Cursive Brewing Company to raise awareness and donate to pediatric cancer treatment in Central New York.
The National Grid headquarters in downtown Syracuse was lit up gold each night to raise awareness for the initiative while Talking Cursive donated proceeds from beverages sold on Wednesdays to Paige’s Butterfly Run. Myia Hill, Executive Director of Paige’s Butterfly Run, said these partnerships helped significantly because families in Central New York still need help.
“Even with the pandemic going on, kids are still being diagnosed with cancer and going through treatment,” she said. “We still need to provide them and their families with the resources. We’re still here to help.”
According to Hill, about 60 children are diagnosed with cancer and begin treatment at Upstate Golisano Children’s Hospital each year.
In addition to the partnerships with Talking Cursive and National Grid, Paige’s Butterfly Run had to shift its largest annual fundraisers to virtual experiences. This included their indoor spinning event “Pedal for Paige” and Paige’s Butterfly Run, which took place Aug. 15-20.
“Going virtual definitely affected our fundraising efforts,” Hill said. “It didn’t have the same emotional impact as the event normally does, but going virtual allowed us to connect with a whole new community of people.”
Hill said for the first time they were able to have participants, survivors, and families join from Central New York all the way to California and still rose more than $115,000 between the two.
Talking Cursive Brewing Company co-owner Andrew Brooks expects to raise more than $200 for pediatric cancer research when the September fundraiser comes to an end. Every Wednesday during the month of September, Talking Cursive donated $1 for every pint, flight, and 4 pack sold to Paige’s Butterfly Run. Brooks says giving back to the community is one of the best parts of being a local business.
“Working with the community is important to us because we’re helping groups that are helping people, and people need help more than ever right now,” Brooks said. “There was never a second thought.”
Brooks said his partnership with Paige’s Butterfly Run goes back to last year when Talking Cursive would host fundraising nights or do special happy hours.
“Normally we would pack the place and do 50/50 raffles,” Brooks said. “Clearly, we can’t do that this year, so we decided to spread it out over the course of September. We’re happy we could find a way to support this cause.”
“It’s required a lot of pivoting to be successful this month,” Hill said. “We wanted to do a lot of the same things, but had to find new ways to do it.”
She added, “We’ve had to think outside the box, and we’ve been successful. Many organizations are going through the same thing right now.”
