Youth football team raises breast cancer awareness

The Pace Red Mites youth football team will accept pledges of 1 cents, 5 cents and 10 cents per yard gained on the field through October. Flat monetary donations are also welcome. (Special to the Press Gazette)

PACE — The Pace Red Mites youth football team is raising money to support breast cancer research and awareness. 

For every yard gained on the field throughout October, the boys are accepting pledges of 1 cents, 5 cents and 10 cents per yard. Flat monetary donations are also welcome. 

Seventy percent of proceeds will benefit the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The rest will help the team budget and pay for pink jerseys to wear during each game this month. 

“… We are taking this opportunity to teach our children the meaning of team and what it takes to make our world a better place,” a Pace Red Mites spokesperson said. “Playing on the field is fun and builds strength and endurance. However, playing off the field as a team builds character. 

“So many kids in the football leagues mimic the wearing of pink during October yet don't grasp what it means to do so. With our Breast Cancer Fund pledge drive, we are teaching the players to motivate themselves on the field by gaining yards, and we are teaching them that raising awareness and money for each yard gained will help those who are victims (of) this terrible disease.”

See https://www.gofundme.com/redmitesbreastcanc  to donate toward the effort.

The team will debut their breast cancer jerseys at 2 p.m. Oct. 8 during a homecoming game at the PARA Football Complex located on Limbaugh Lane in Pace. 

This article originally appeared on Santa Rosa Press Gazette: Youth football team raises breast cancer awareness