As SMASHVILLE trades its usual gold and navy for hues of lavender during the first Hockey Fights Cancer game of the season on Saturday, there will also be cause to recognize a significant milestone for the Nashville Predators organization.
Raising millions of dollars for pediatric cancer research since its inception during the 2013-14 season, the Preds this weekend will also celebrate the 10th season of the beloved 365 Pediatric Cancer Fund presented by Twice Daily – an enduring partnership between the team and Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt.
“The intention was always to build something into what it is now,” Vice President of Community Relations Rebecca King said. “It started with this far-fetched idea that [the 365 Fund] would actually continue running long beyond the career of the players and beyond the people that created it. And it’s kind of just taken on a life of its own.”
Each year, the fund donates hundreds of thousands of dollars to the hospital in support of cancer research and clinical care programs, while Preds players routinely make visits to the hospital’s young patients.
No two players were more important to the fund, however, than its founders: former captain Shea Weber and goaltender Pekka Rinne.
Source: Rinne & Weber’s Continuing Impact Felt as 365 Pediatric Cancer Fund Turns 10
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