Louisiana Students Launch The Max Cure Foundation's Dunk Your Kicks Program To Raise Money And Awareness For Local Families Battling Pediatric Cancer

BOSSIER CITY, LA, September 28, 2012 (Press-News.org) Dunk Your Kicks for pediatric cancer has been in nearly 50 schools and businesses throughout New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut and is now coming to DeSoto Parish and Bossier Parish schools in Louisiana. This program provides a meaningful fundraising opportunity for the community to support local families who have a child with cancer and need financial support. The call to action is to clean your closets and give back by dunking old kicks into recycling bins. This initiative teaches the students that a simple act of generosity goes a long way in helping children who are less fortunate. The Max Cure Foundation receives 75 cents per pound of sneakers that they collect for recycling. MCF delivers the sneakers to a company known as Green Sneakers http://www.greensneakers.org (a division of Crown Ministry Group). Green Sneakers, in turn, transfers the sneakers to a recycling company that sorts the sneakers into two groups, one group consisting of those that are recycled into environmentally friendly products and the second group made available in a secondary market as affordable footwear for people around the world. This allows the Max Cure Foundation to provide an average of $1.00 per pair of sneakers to the local families in the Roar Beyond Barriers Program. 100% of the net proceeds of each Dunk Your Kicks drive goes towards advancing their mission. Since April of 2012, in anticipation of the Dunk Your Kicks Launch this week, The Max Cure Foundation had already adopted two local families battling pediatric cancer. The monthly support provided has been in the form of shopping cards good at Target retail stores, allowing the families to purchase food, clothing and other important household necessities. As of Thursday, September 20, 2012, a third family has been added to this program in Louisiana. All three children are undergoing treatment at St. Judes Children's Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. 8-year-old Mia Troquille of Haughton, 10-year-old Terrence Hayes of Shreveport and 8-month-old Jayden Manasco of DeSoto Parish are The Max Cure Foundation's Roar Beyond Barriers Louisiana Families who will benefit from Dunk Your Kicks. The Max Cure Foundation has more than 40 families across the country in Roar Beyond Barriers.

The Dunk Your Kicks drive began on Wednesday, September 19, and the first assembly is Thursday, September 27, 2012. David Plotkin, of Manhattan, Co-Founder of The Max Cure Foundation, will speak to the students and faculty in attendance at the official kick-off of the assemblies beginning at Rusheon Middle School at 8:30am, Princeton Elementary, Platt Elementary, Haughton Middle School, W.T. Lewis Elementary, Stockwell Elementary, Benton Elementary, Meadowview Elementary and Bellaire Elementary.

The schools of DeSoto Parish were the first on board, and sneakers began accumulating quickly in the bins. Principals challenged students to organize into groups and compete within the schools, encouraging friendly competition for a good cause. Various clubs and student organizations are leading the charge, and some principals are offering rewards of special "blue-jean days" to the winning groups, when students will be allowed to wear blue jeans instead of their regular uniform pants.

The Max Cure Foundation was created after David's son Max was diagnosed with cancer in 2007 and thankfully, is in remission today. "As a father who has lived through a parent's worst nightmare of learning that their child has cancer, I'm happy to bring "Dunk Your Kicks" to Louisiana to help families while their child is being treated for cancer. The great part of this program is that when you dunk your kicks in your community, the money stays in your community," says David Plotkin. Partnering with the Max Cure Foundation, Unity Education Resources is providing key support to build a network of participating schools. Kenneth Ash, Vice-President of Unity Education Resources, adds, "Dunk Your Kicks will make a huge difference in the lives of these families who are struggling to care for their children. We are proud to be a part of this program and grateful that we were able to bring it to Louisiana."

The Max Cure Foundation, Inc., a 501(c)(3) public charity, is dedicated to advancing cures for pediatric cancers, funding the development of less toxic treatments for children with the disease and assisting low-income families battling cancer in their children. MCF strives to raise awareness of the cause, as well as money for innovative research and for "Roar Beyond Barriers," a program that provides low-income families across the country with financial support. MCF seeks to inspire children and their families afflicted with cancer to face the disease with courage, hope and most importantly, bravery. http://www.maxcurefoundation.org

For more information: Jenny Alcebo - Program Coordinator (646) 756-2580 jenny@maxcure.org
Media Inquiries: MJ Pedone Publicist for Max Cure mj@indrapr.com (646) 593-7211
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