PHS football team host cancer fundraiser car wash
PHS football team hosts cancer fundraiser car wash
All levels of Porterville High School football came together and showed a true meaning of love for the community by hosting a fundraiser in the form of a car wash Saturday morning to raise money for the Roger S. Good Cancer Treatment Center at Sierra View Medical Center.
In correlation with October being Breast Cancer Awareness Month, the Panthers took things further than just wearing pink and instead held the car wash in the administration parking lot of the school so that the players could give back to a community that does a lot for them.
“A lot of times kids wear pink for games and I don’t think they really understand what its all about and it becomes more of an individual thing,” varsity head coach Mike Machado said. “With this it allows the kids to give back to the community a little bit, do something for them. The community is involved with all their fundraisers, all the time and it just allows them to get out and have some fun as a team, another little bonding experience for them and donate to a great cause which would be the Roger Good Cancer Center.”
The cause hits close to home for first-year coach Machado who lost his mother in August of 2008 to breast cancer. Having lost someone so close to him, Machado said he understands what people may go through and has held similar fundraisers at all the places he’s coached.
“It’s definitely something I can relate to,” Machado said. “I think I was 26 when she passed away, so I understand [cancer] can affect families pretty big. So it’s good for me to be allowed to do something like this for the community [when I] have some tie to it personally.”
Machado added that his dad was also out helping the players wash cars which he thought was “kind of cool.”
Freshman head coach Charles Paul also knows personally how cancer can impact families and motivated his young players to come help by explaining the importance of the cause to them.
“I tried to motivate them by telling them its for a great cause,” he said. “Everybody knows somebody that’s gotten cancer. If you don’t get it you will [know someone who has it]. I lost a dad, I lost my brother, everybody [or] most people have lost someone to cancer.”
According to the World Health Organization 1 in 6 deaths around the world are due to cancer and it is the second leading cause of death globally. In 2016 in the United States the American Cancer Society reported that nearly 1.7 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed and nearly 600,000 people were estimated to die from the disease according to the. The ACS also states that breast cancer affects 1 in 8 women and is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in women.
One of Porterville’s former players recently lost their mother to cancer and the Panthers are in the process of getting helmet decals with the mother’s initials to show their support of the family during their time of loss.
The car wash was scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. with freshman, junior varsity and varsity each taking an hour shift, but senior left guard Jimmy Garcia and senior quarterback Joey Sandoval were still washing cars at 1:20 p.m. with cars still trickling in.
“It was fun, coming out here with the team, bonding and helping with [Breast Cancer Awareness Month],” said Sandoval. He added that besides being out there with his friends and teammates, he really liked washing cars.
“It’s better [than] wearing pink because we’re getting money for it and we’re actually donating it to the [Roger S. Good Cancer Center],” Garcia said. “I’m glad that we actually had the opportunity to do this.”