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Triton Central's 'Pink Out' game nets another financial windfall

The COVID-19 pandemic dampened Triton Central’s annual “Pink Out” fundraising event. In no way did it diminish the “spirit” of the cause.

 

Triton Central High School athletic director and girls basketball coach Bryan Graham delivered good news Tuesday that the 2021 event raised nearly $10,000 that will be donated to the IWIN Foundation to help women and their families battle breast cancer.

 

Over the 13 years Triton Central has hosted the event, the basketball program and its throng of supporters have raised over $180,000 to fight breast cancer.

 

The annual fundraiser and activities organized in conjunction with a high school girls basketball game have become a “must-see” event.

 

The school turns its gymnasium and the hallway adjacent to it pink with streamers and balloons. A silent auction runs in conjunction with the junior varsity and varsity games. TC’s basketball teams don pink uniforms. And breast cancer survivors from around Shelby County and beyond are invited to attend and are celebrated with a raucous parade around the hardwood floor before the varsity game tips off.

 

COVID-19 took the fans away from this year’s game – all 2,000-plus in what becomes a standing-room only event. So the event went virtual and still nearly raised $10,000.

 

In an email response to Graham, Debbie Laswell, program director for IWIN Foundation raved about “Tiger Nation.”

 

“You support and care about each other in the best of times and the worst. And stripped down to its bare bones, the purpose of the Pink Out Game was always to celebrate, honor, remember, and help your neighbors with breast cancer, and that is just what you did despite a pandemic,” Laswell wrote. “We are completely blown away by the total funds you raised! Even without fans, the silent auction, the festivities and the Survivor Parade and the traditional ‘sea of pink’ … coach Graham, Connie Larkey, the Lady Tigers, the steadfast supporters, and YOU came together and accomplished something truly incredible.”

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