Join #TeamCRI and Plan Your Own Tailgate for a Purpose

The Cancer Research Institute (CRI) now has a new way to create a world immune to cancer, just in time for football season this fall. Tailgate for a Purpose kicks off on September 6.

The concept was born out of a partnership with Beth and David Scott from Marietta, Georgia. After losing their daughter, Taylor Ann, to cancer in 2019, the Scotts knew they had to find a way to honor her memory.

“During our cancer journey, our daughter was very focused on helping other people. After she passed, we wanted to keep her legacy going,” David told CRI.

In 2020 the Scotts went to work on just that, establishing the Taylor Ann Scott Foundation. “I wanted to make sure we raised money for the right organization – that most, if not all, of the money went to helping other people,” Beth said. “Taylor’s oncologist told me about CRI and said it is the one to go with.”

The next step would prove to be a natural fit. The Scotts are avid fans of the Georgia Bulldogs football team. “We wanted to get together with our family and friends to remember our daughter and see if we could raise a little money,” David said.

In 2021, the inaugural Taylor’s Tailgate took place. “Beth and I both settled on a tailgate. We had everyone that had supported us through this journey over for the Georgia-Florida tailgate function,” David said.

The Scotts and their community raised $80,000 for CRI that day and the Georgia Bulldogs would go on to win the national championship later that year. “We said, ‘well, we may be on to something.’ So, we hosted it again and the Bulldogs won the national championship again,” David remarked.

Back-to-back national championships on the heels of their first two tailgate events may have been a coincidence, but what they raised the second year wasn’t. Their second tailgate event brought in over $100,000 for CRI. This coming October, the Scotts will host their third Tailgate for a Purpose.

“What the Scott family has been able to do with just two annual events is remarkable. We are grateful for their passionate support of CRI and our mission to save more lives by fueling the discovery and development of powerful immunotherapies for all cancers,” said CRI’s Chief Program Officer, Lynne Harmer.

While they’re diehard fans of the gridiron, Beth and David are quick to point out that hosting your own tailgate doesn’t have to be exclusively focused on football. “It could be your kid’s soccer game. It could be anything,” said Beth. “It doesn’t have to be football. We probably have close to 300 people attend our Georgia-Florida tailgate and more than half of them don’t even watch the game. It’s really about bringing people together and raising money for a great cause,” David added.

That’s something CRI’s Associate Director of Community Fundraising, Shasell Negron, says is essential to the success of the initiative. “Everyone knows someone who has been touched by cancer. When you host your own Tailgate for a Purpose, you become our partner and enable us to usher in the next wave of curative immunotherapies,” said Negron.

The Scott’s hope is that others will realize what CRI has known since 1953: immunotherapy holds the potential to become more precise, more personalized, and more effective than current cancer treatments—and potentially with fewer side effects. 

“We’re very excited about the potential this program has to promote the cutting-edge research that CRI is doing, unlocking the code of own immune systems and beating this disease,” David said.

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Are you ready to join #TeamCRI and host your own Tailgate for a Purpose? Click here to get started. If you have any questions, reach out to Shasell Negron at (212) 688-7515 x239, or email her at [email protected].