Austin Hatcher Foundation Raises $700,000 during 14th Annual Celebration of Life and Hope
CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (Oct. 18, 2021) – The Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer hosted its annual Celebration of Life and Hope on Saturday, October 16, 2021.
For the first time, the foundation hosted the event in its new Education Advancement Center located at 1705 S Holtzclaw Ave in Chattanooga, Tenn. With more than 300 individuals in attendance, the space was filled with excitement as the night focused on the foundation’s mission to erase the effects of pediatric cancer.
Along with being able to host the Celebration of Life and Hope at the Education Advancement Center, the foundation reached new levels of fundraising success, raising over $700,000 to continue providing families with life altering therapies at absolutely no cost to them.
Sponsors for the 14th annual event included presenting sponsors U.S. Xpress and Textile Rubber and Chemical Company. VIP sponsors included Hair Benders International and Revive Aesthetics & Wellness. Platinum sponsors included Guide On Group, Lodge Cast Iron, and Reliance Partners. All other sponsors can be found at www.celebrationlh.com.
U.S. Xpress President and CEO, Eric Fuller, chaired the Celebration of Life and Hope this year along with his wife, Jennifer. During the event, Fuller announced that U.S. Xpress is launching a new fundraising campaign that will directly benefit the Austin Hatcher Foundation for Pediatric Cancer.
After recently committing to doubling their community engagement by 2025, U.S. Xpress launched a matching campaign among their 10,000 employees with the goal of raising $100,000 for the foundation by the end of 2022.
To learn more about this matching campaign, visit www.hatcherfoundation.org/celebrate to watch the launch video.
Fuller also unveiled the company’s new U.S. Xpress truck, wrapped in the foundation’s logo, mission, and faces of a few of the foundation’s families. This truck will be travelling the country, generating awareness of the work at the Austin Hatcher Foundation. The hope of U.S. Xpress is to wrap even more trucks in the upcoming year to continue spreading awareness throughout the United States.
“We are honored to receive the support that we have from Eric and Jennifer Fuller as essential volunteers of the foundation, and we are thrilled at U.S. Xpress’s new match campaign to benefit our foundation,” said foundation President, Amy Jo Osborn.
In addition to the U.S Xpress matching campaign announcement, Chip and Cindy Howalt, of Textile Rubber and Chemical Company, Inc., matched $250,000 that was raised during the Celebration of Life and Hope. All proceeds from Silent Auction, Live Auction, and day of donations were included in the total that was matched, which helped the foundation to exceed its highest ever event fundraising goal of $700,000.
“We are so thankful to Chip and Cindy for the match of $250,000,” said Amy Jo Osborn. “Because of their offer, we were able to communicate our needs to the crowd at our event and rally our amazing community to help empower the lives of families with pediatric cancer.”
