WLW community raising money to support cancer fight

Members of the Walled Lake Western High School football team and their fans will attempt to raise thousands of dollars to fight cancer at the Friday, Sept. 21 annual Pink Out Game.

Dubbed the Warriors for Warriors event, the players will wear pink football jerseys during their gridiron matchup against the Waterford Kettering High School Captains. Fans may purchase pink T-shirts before the game for $15.

Proceeds will go to three charities: The Susan G. Komen Detroit Race for the Cure; the St. Baldrick’s Foundation; and the National Football League’s A Crucial Catch program in association with the American Cancer Society.

The event, which includes the Warriors’ Survivor Parade at 6 p.m., is the second of its kind for the school. About 3,000 attendees donated about $42,500 during last year’s event.

“Following on the success of last year’s event, we’re very excited to again host this fund-raising event in our community,” Walled Lake Western Head Football Coach Mike Zdebski stated in a news release. “We’re very hopeful that this becomes an ongoing part of our charitable program to teach players about character development through leadership and community service.”

Linda Ishbia, one of the event’s organizers, said the Warriors’ Survivor Parade is open to those who have been touched by any form of cancer. Patients, survivors, and those who wish to honor the memory of friends and family lost to the disease are welcome to join the march. Participants must purchase a shirt to take part in the parade.

The kick-off parade will be lead by members of the school’s band, cheerleaders, poms, and football team into the stadium and around the track to recognize those affected by cancer.

Ishbia said more than 1,000 shirts have been sold so far this year.

Zdebski has said that the event started when somebody wanted to wear pink shoelaces for breast cancer awareness in October. From there, the team started working with Ford’s Warriors in Pink program.

This year’s event is sponsored in part by Tom Holzer Ford, Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital, Modis, Walmart, and EA Graphics.