ATLANTA – Prior to the tip of Thursday night’s Hawks game, the Atlanta Hawks Foundation presented a check totaling $185,000 to the Prostate Cancer Foundation as part of the team’s third annual Black History Month Assist Challenge. At the beginning of February, the Hawks Foundation pledged to donate $250 to the Prostate Cancer Foundation for every assist registered by the Hawks. Throughout the month, the Hawks totaled 370 assists to bring the donation total to $92,500. Hawks Principal Owners Tony Ressler and Jami Gertz and the Ressler Gertz Family Foundation matched the figure to bring the total donation to $185,000.
Since the Hawks launched this annual campaign in 2019, the Black History Month Assist Challenge has raised a total of $503,000 to support life-saving research through the Prostate Cancer Foundation in addition to generating millions of impressions through various forms of media to promote the work of PCF.
“We are overwhelmed by the generous support PCF has received from the Hawks and the Ressler Gertz Family Foundation to help fund life-saving prostate cancer research,” said Christine Jones, COO, PCF. “Our partnership with the Hawks during Black History Month has helped us raise awareness – especially among Black men, who are disproportionately affected – about the importance of understanding their risks and knowing their numbers. And, that saves lives.”
The Hawks’ donation will be added to the more than $14 million committed to research teams focused on understanding why African American men are disproportionately affected by prostate cancer to other ethnicities and how to address this issue with treatments and cures. According to PCF, one-in-eight men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, but African American men are 76 percent more likely to develop prostate cancer than Caucasian men and more than twice as likely to die from the disease.
Learn more about the Black History Month Assist Challenge and find additional resources provided by Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University by visiting Hawks.com/PCF.
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ABOUT THE ATLANTA HAWKS
Committed to entertaining and uniting the city of Atlanta since 1968, the Atlanta Hawks & State Farm Arena, under the leadership of Principal Owners Tony Ressler and Jami Gertz, continue to build bridges through basketball by following its True to Atlanta mantra. On the court, the Hawks’ exciting young core is led by All-Star point guard Trae Young as the organization received the NBA’s top ranking in overall in-game experience for the last two seasons. Off the court, the Hawks organization focuses on positively impacting the lives of Atlantans through providing access to youth basketball, fighting food insecurity, and the recent transformation of State Farm Arena into Georgia’s largest-ever voting precinct for the 2020 elections. The Hawks family also includes the College Park Skyhawks (NBA G League) and Hawks Talon Gaming Club (NBA 2K League). Atlanta Hawks Membership, which includes your seat for every home game for the 2020-21 regular season, is on sale now at www.hawks.com/membership or by calling 866-715-1500. For more information on the Hawks, log on to www.hawks.com or follow us on social media @ATLHawks.
ABOUT PROSTATE CANCER FOUNDATION
The Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF) is the world’s leading philanthropic organization dedicated to funding life-saving prostate cancer research. Founded in 1993 by Mike Milken, PCF has raised more than $850 million in support of cutting-edge research by more than 2,200 research projects at 220 leading cancer centers in 22 countries around the world. Thanks in part to PCF’s commitment to ending death and suffering from prostate cancer, the death rate is down by 52% and countless more men are alive today as a result. The Prostate Cancer Foundation research now impacts more than 70 forms of human cancer by focusing on immunotherapy, the microbiome, and food as medicine. Learn more at www.pcf.org.