Hooters Presents Check For $45,955 To Moffitt Cancer Center

CLEARWATER, FL — Representatives from Hooters Management Corp. including co-founder Ed Droste presented a $45,955 donation to Moffitt Cancer Center Sept. 30.

The donation is from $35,955 in proceeds from Hooters' 2018 “Give a Hoot” program, and supports a grant awarded through the V Foundation for Cancer Research. Hooters Management added donation of $10,000 to support the efforts.

The grant was awarded to Dr. Hatem Soliman, medical director of clinical trials in Moffitt’s Breast Oncology Program to raise awareness and increase participation in breast cancer clinical trials.

The presentation took place in the Gruden Huddle Room at the Richard M. Schulze Family Foundation Outpatient Center, 10920 N. McKinley Drive, Tampa. Hooters catered lunch after the presentation.

The V Foundation for Cancer Research CEO Susan Braun and additional Moffitt Cancer Center representatives were also in attendance. Since 2002, Hooters Management Corp. has donated more than $860,000 to Moffitt Cancer Center.

Hooters kicked off the 2019 “Give a Hoot” campaign Oct. 1 at all restaurant locations. The program is held annually in honor of Hooters Management Corp.’s own Kelly Jo Dowd, who was the 1995 Hooters Calendar Cover Girl and ultimately the Palm Harbor restaurant general manager. Dowd lost her battle with breast cancer in 2007.

Fundraisers are held every year in Hooters locations nationwide and include donations for pink bracelets, a percentage of proceeds from specific drinks, rounding up checks and a $1 donation from every Hooters calendar sold.

Hooters has raised more than $5.8 million to support the fight against breast cancer, much of it through the Kelly Jo Dowd Breast Cancer Research Fund benefiting the V Foundation for Cancer Research.

The donations were collected nationwide in conjunction with the V Foundation. Each Hooters franchisee group then designates a cancer research center to donate the money raised. Money raised in Hooters Management Corp.’s 24 locations in Tampa Bay, Chicagoland and Manhattan benefit Moffitt Cancer Center. This year’s goal is to raise $1 million nationwide.

“This gift will propel the cutting-edge work our researchers and clinicians are doing every day to advance patient care and cancer research,” said Maria Muller, president of the Moffitt Cancer Center Foundation. “We are incredibly grateful to Hooters and the V Foundation for supporting Moffitt so generously.”