The Boys Will Go Pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month as a tribute to their mothers, grandmothers, sisters and aunts. The Santa Ynez Valley Union High School varsity and junior varsity football teams will don pink socks at their game on Friday when they play Pioneer Valley High School.

The game time for junior varsity is 4 p.m., and 7 p.m. for the varsity team.

The Football Booster Club will sell pink cupcakes and run a 50/50 raffle with the proceeds going toward the Cancer Center of Santa Barbara with Sansum Clinic-Solvang Oncology Department. The cupcakes will be donated by the Solvang Bakery.

“They were a huge success last year,” said Charlene Hiatt, Football Booster Club treasurer and coordinator for the “Go Pink” fundraiser. “Last year we had some very generous people paying up to $20 for a cupcake! We’re hoping to see those same generous people embrace our efforts this year.”

Hiatt’s own mother is a breast cancer survivor.

Dr. Jonathan Berkowitz (oncologist) and Mary Fox (manager of the Solvang Oncology Department) were tickled pink to hear that the teams were going to do this again this year. Last year the Booster Club donated $1,500 for oncology programs and services in the valley.

While Hiatt heads up the SYHS Go Pink fundraiser, it is the football players and coaches who are the driving force behind the mission, the pink socks and the theme.

“Some of our current players and coaches have family members who have recently battled cancer," she said. "It has touched our football program personally.”

The teams will take a moment during the game to recognize and support those in their fight against cancer. Both teams want to show their support and do something to help their local community. While the boys are playing hard on the field, Hiatt and the Football Booster Club will work equally as hard off the field selling cupcakes and running the fundraiser.

— Liz Baker is a marketing coordinator for Sansum Clinic.