ThinkCure! swings into action for cancer research
photo: Jon HooSoo Photography/ L.A. DodgersCrowds pack the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for an exhibition baseball game benefiting ThinkCure, the Los Angeles Dodgers’ official charity.
The Dodgers’ exhibition game at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on March 29, 2008, raised more than $2 million for ThinkCure, the Dodgers’ official charity, which supports cancer research at City of Hope and Childrens Hospital Los Angeles. Team officials reported that 115,300 fans packed the stadium to watch the Dodgers play the Boston Red Sox in the benefit game.
In the months since the landmark game, other donors have pitched in for ThinkCure. A two-day radio telethon in mid-August on Los Angeles radio stations KABC and KLOS, combined with an online auction and game-day contributions, raised more than $163,000 for the charity, with help from partner KCAL-TV. Proceeds from the Aflac All-American High School Baseball Game, held at Dodger Stadium on
Aug. 9, also benefited the effort. Northridge Skateland raised more than $3,000 through its “Skate-a-thon” in June, and the same month, funds from a special evening event featuring Los Angeles sports legends Vin Scully and John Wooden also went in part to ThinkCure.
The continuing series of events aim to keep ThinkCure and its research mission in the public spotlight, and the Coliseum game got that effort off to a good start. The legions of fans in attendance launched the event into the Guinness Book of World Records, marking the largest-ever crowd at a baseball game.
“This record is a tribute to the passion and compassion of our fans, with whom this event clearly struck a chord,” said Dodgers owner Frank McCourt. Net proceeds from the game, about $1 million, went to ThinkCure. The McCourt family matched that with a personal donation, bringing the fundraising total to $2 million.
More than 270 volunteers from City of Hope and Childrens Hospital staffed a fan festival, as well as the game itself, helping visitors, providing information about cancer research and accepting contributions. The game also prompted support from local officials. The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors declared March 29 to be “ThinkCure Day.”
The Dodgers’ return to the Coliseum was the team’s first since playing at the arena from 1958 to 1961, during construction of Dodger Stadium.
Stephen J. Forman, M.D., the Francis and Kathleen McNamara Distinguished Chair in Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, was moved by the game and acknowledgments of ThinkCure. “This game was the beginning of a season of hope for a world championship for the Dodgers, and for those of us at the bedside and in the laboratory, it’s a new season of hope to achieve a victory for every patient who comes to us for care,” Forman said.
More information about ThinkCure is available at www.thinkcure.org.