Pink Polka Dots junior guild raises another $86,000 for cancer research this year

2014 Volunteers

To Cap Off Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, 

The Pink Polka Dots Junior Guild Raises Another $86,000!

Photos and text from the Pink Polka Dots

It’s always sunny for the Pink Polka Dots’ biggest event of the year: a golf tournament with dinner and a silent auction at Legion Memorial Golf Course in Everett. The 8th Annual Sydney Coxon Memorial Golf Tournament on September 6th capped off another year of successful fundraising, bringing the total raised for the year to just over $86,000!

Each year, the Pink Polka Dots team up with Integrated Technologies, Inc. and the Coxon Family Foundation to host a fun afternoon of golf followed by an inspirational evening program.

Founded in 2006 by local 6th graders in memory of their friend, Sydney Coxon, the Pink Polka Dots are a Seattle Children’s Hospital Junior Guild funding research to cure cancer. You may have seen members selling handmade cards and gifts at the LFP Third Place Commons Holiday and Farmer’s Markets, or selling lemonade along the Burke Gilman trail this summer. This year, the Pink Polka Dots also raised money with North City’s USA Karate Academy at a self-defense workshop for college-bound teens.

In eight years, these philanthropic youngsters have contributed almost $750,000 to fund groundbreaking research for better treatments, and hopefully someday a cure, for pediatric brain tumors. The Pink Polka Dots’ fundraising proceeds support the work of Dr. Jim Olson at Children’s Hospital and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center.

The funding has allowed researchers to develop exciting new treatment methods including “tumor paint” which makes cancer cells glow for easier surgical removal, and a drug-delivery device which will increase efficacy and minimize side effects of chemotherapy treatment.

Dr. Olson’s latest effort, “Project Violet”, involves discovering and producing cancer-fighting optide drugs from natural sources, like flowers. Funding from Guilds and patient families is critical to researchers' ability to keep moving forward to save lives of children and adults with many types of cancers, and potentially other diseases like Alzheimers and diabetes.

To read more about the research, and make a donation to the Pink Polka Dots, visit their website