In honor of its 20th anniversary this week, the Cancer Challenge is receiving a $100,000 contribution from the recently completed Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G.  The gift represents the largest contribution ever received by the organization.

According to Tina Waggener, executive director of the Cancer Challenge, given the size of the gift the organization’s Board of Directors will now begin considering how best to apply the contribution toward one or more of the organization’s key focus areas.  These focus areas include preventive education, treatment, navigation and social services, and survivorship.

“On behalf of the Cancer Challenge we are thrilled to accept this gift from the tournament,” said Tina Waggener, Executive Director of The Cancer Challenge. “Many more lives will be touched here in Northwest Arkansas as a result of this generosity.  The tournament has become one of the jewels in our community, and their commitment to improving the quality of life here for all our citizens is commendable.”

In addition to receiving this contribution, the Cancer Challenge also joined the tournament and P&G in driving awareness and donor participation in the Pantene Beautiful Links program which helps provide free wigs to women who have lost their hair due to cancer treatment including women in Northwest Arkansas.  This program culminates in a special hair donor event held annually during LPGA week in Northwest Arkansas.  At this year’s event on June 19 at the John Q. Hammons convention center in Rogers, 344 people donated their hair toward this cause, more than double the donors from the previous year.

The 20th Cancer Challenge event takes place June 27-29 in Northwest Arkansas and consists of golf and tennis tournaments, a trap shoot, a run-walk, and the Sparkle and Spurs gala.

“The Cancer Challenge has been doing important work in Northwest Arkansas for 20 years now, and as part of our charitable outreach this year we wanted to do something of significance to support the organization’s mission and outreach in this community,” said Jay Allen, Tournament Chairman.

Allen added that as part of this year’s tournament, charitable contributions and product donations totaling $135,000 have been made to numerous organizations throughout Northwest Arkansas, increasing the charitable impact the tournament has made in the community since its inaugural event seven years ago.

Local organizations that will be benefitting from the tournament this year include: the Cancer Challenge, the Benton County and Fayetteville Boys & Girls Clubs, the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank, the Mercy Foundation, and the South Central Golf Foundation.  In addition to these organizations, the Walmart Foundation as part of LPGA week made a $25,000 grant to Dress for Success to establish a local affiliate and also made an additional $475,000 grant to Dress for Success to fund 15 Dress for Success Career Centers across the U.S.

The Cancer Challenge is a non-profit organization serving the Northwest Arkansas community for 20 years.  To date the organization has invested more than $10 million in local cancer services and programs serving more than 280,000 people in this community.