In order to keep kicking butt as much as we do (and to keep kicking more in the future), fundraising is essential. Without the unbelievable work done by our special event committees, we wouldn’t be able to host the fundraisers that enable us to not only provide education, prevention, and outreach all over the state, but also resources for our Fighters.

The Bottom’s Up Bash is a gala style event held every year on National Dress in Blue Day in March to mark the beginning of Colon Cancer Awareness Month. This year’s Bash shattered records, with more than 500 attendees and nearly $90,000 raised! The life force behind this event, however, is our volunteers. For the Bash our committee members and volunteers take care of a plethora of responsibilities, including mailings, silent auction coordination, logistical work/elements, reaching out to sponsors, decorating, and so much more. 

The Kicking Butt 5k is an event to raise awareness and funds to eliminate preventable colon cancer by increasing screening rates. At the 2015 5k, we raised $93,340! This year, the Kicking Butt 5k is expanding to Lexington! The Louisville 5k will take place on August 20th and the first ever Lexington 5k will take place on September 24th. We have high hopes to break fundraising records with our races this year like we did with the Bash! As you might imagine, our committees are hard at work planning both of these events and a lot of coordination goes into both. Volunteers take care of everything from database and registration management, logistics, organizing sponsorship packets, completing mailings, 5k course support and setup, tshirt sales, and all tables, including registration, t-shirt, and concessions. 

The amount of work that goes into these events may seem overwhelming, and many of our volunteers do log hundreds of hours over the course of the year. But whether you can volunteer for 100 hours or 1 hour, we want your help! Every hour counts and every volunteer has unique strengths, skills, and talents to offer.

If you’re interested in volunteering for either of these events or would like to help out at the Project’s office, we’d love to have your help! Email Em @ eeskridge@kickingbutt.org or visit our Volunteer Page!

And to all of our special event volunteers, thank you! You kick butt!