Hooters, the original American wing joint, is bringing light to the fight against breast cancer during a month-long October fundraising campaign and is asking all Hooters fans to #GiveAHoot in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. After generating $720,000 in 2021, Hooters has set an ambitious goal to raise $1 million for the cause this year. With nearly 15,000 Hooters Girls around the globe and a workforce of 70 percent women, Hooters is committed to raising awareness and funds for breast cancer research.
Every Hooters location across the U.S. will support the #GiveAHoot campaign during October. Hooters is inviting all to participate in several fundraising programs to support the cause, including:
- Purchasing the 2023 Hooters Calendar in restaurants or online at Hooters.com/hooters-girls/calendar/ with $1 benefiting breast cancer research from each glossy keepsake
- Adding one’s name to a personalized endowment card to hang up in a local restaurant or take home
- “Pinking Up” their check by rounding to the nearest dollar for breast cancer research, make a cash or credit card donation to their check or visit Hooters.com/give to donate online
- Attending a grassroots fundraising event at a local Hooters restaurant
- Enjoying three limited-time specialty Pink Drinks created to raise awareness and funds
Hooters is returning three “pink drinks” this October with $1 of each purchase supporting breast cancer research. Launched in partnership with Barstool Sports, The Barstool Bomb can be found exclusively at Hooters and consists of a refreshing mix of New Amsterdam Pink Whiney Vodka and High Noon Watermelon Seltzer. A second limited-time beverage, The Cosbro, is a distinctive mix of Bacardi Lime rum, agave nectar, citrus sour and cranberry juice. And Pink Passion is a delicious concoction of Malibu Coconut rum, DeKuyper 03 orange liqueur, lime sour, mango puree and fruit juices.
More than 285,000 breast cancer cases will be diagnosed in 2022 and will account for 15 percent of all cancer diagnoses. Breast cancer is estimated to account for seven percent of all cancer deaths this year, and one in eight women will be diagnosed with the disease at some point in their lifetime, underscoring the vital need for cancer research funding.
Give A Hoot fundraising benefits the V Foundation for Cancer Research, one of the nation’s leading cancer research funding organizations, as well as other local beneficiaries through the Kelly Jo Dowd Breast Cancer Research Fund. Part of the Hooters Community Endowment Fund (HOO.C.E.F.), the Kelly Jo Dowd Breast Cancer Research Fund was established in honor of the late Kelly Jo Dowd, an original Hooters Girl and the 1995 Hooters Calendar Cover Girl. Always an inspiration to her fellow Hooters Girls, Kelly Jo valiantly battled breast cancer for five years before succumbing in 2007. Throughout her struggle she was courageous and selfless, becoming an advocate for early detection, education and fundraising. Her influence on Hooters’ culture of service remains as strong as ever.
Through its fundraising platforms, Hooters has raised more than $8 million over the years to support breast cancer research, much of it through the grant in Kelly Jo’s name to the V Foundation for Cancer Research. These grants honor Kelly Jo and further her mission to educate all women, especially her extended family consisting of some 400,000 current and former Hooters Girls, about the importance of early detection and prevention.
The V Foundation for Cancer Research has funded more than $290 million in cancer research grants nationwide with 100 percent of direct cash donations funding cancer research. Thanks to generous donors, the Foundation has an endowment that covers administrative expenses.
