Cougars To Help With Children With Cancer Christmas Foundation

PROVO -- For the past 12 years, the BYU men’s basketball team has been involved with the Children With Cancer Christmas Foundation (CCCF). This year the Cougars will continue their tradition of participating in the Children with Cancer Christmas Foundation’s annual Christmas party to help make the party a night to remember for the children.

During Coach Steve Cleveland’s tenure at BYU, the Cougars attended the party for the first time. After the party, Cheryl Rose, wife of BYU head coach Dave Rose, was asked to serve on the foundation’s committee.

“We were invited the second year they had the party,” Cheryl Rose explained. “We saw the joy it brought these families and it touched our hearts. These are great people and it is an honor for us to be able to be involved with this foundation. These families are experiencing an incredible challenge but they are facing it with great courage.”

The event became even more meaningful to Dave Rose last year after he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer during the summer. His subsequent cancer scans have come back normal. However, the Rose family now has even greater empathy for these families who struggle as a result of cancer.

How to Donate

Those wishing to participate in the event can drop off unwrapped toys at Harmon’s Auto Center in Provo, any of the five Far West Bank locations in Orem, Provo, Payson, Salem and at Springville’s Main Street branch. There will also be donation boxes at Learning Dynamics Preschool’s four locations. The 2010 Christmas party and the distribution of the toys will take place on Dec. 15.

Monetary donations can be sent to the Children with Cancer Christmas Foundation, 56 East 100 South, Orem, Utah 84058. Toys can be dropped off until Dec. 13, while the monetary donations can be made through the end of December.

For more information on how to donate or to be involved, call the foundation’s info line at (801) 221-7667.

About Children with Cancer Christmas Foundation

Founded by Mac Boyter, a cancer survivor who saw the needs of a family with a child battling cancer around the Christmas season, Children with Cancer Christmas Foundation was formed in 1998. CCCF has since provided assistance to approximately 1,000 families.

One hundred percent of all donations to the Foundation will go toward the Christmas Party where families who have children with cancer will be able receive Christmas presents they might not have been able to afford otherwise due to expenses associated with their child’s illness. Parents will be invited the night before the party to choose the gifts they would like their children to receive. The party will feature food, presents, entertainment, games and crafts as well as visits from the basketball team, Cosmo and Santa Claus.