BEDFORD CANCER FOUNDATION

16 years ago, the Cascade Cafeteria Scholarship Fund was started when Judy Pope, mother of then Cascade High School Basketball Coach Charlie Pope and mother-in-law to Cindy Pope, finished her fight with liver cancer and passed away. In the years since, that tragic event has grown into a local movement of helping in the fight against Cancer. Each year, Charlie and Cindy, with the support of the community and Cascade High School, would host a Coaches’ vs Cancer event at one of the home basketball games at Cascade High School that included a spaghetti dinner prior to the basketball game and a cancer dedicated basketball game. They would pre-sale Cancer Awareness t-shirts for individuals to wear to the basketball game to show their support.  The money raised from the dinner would go towards a scholarship given to a senior at Cascade High School who had been impacted by Cancer. The money raised from the t-shirts would be donated to The Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research. 2022 was a year for growth and opportunity. The Pope family reached out to Shelby Taylor, who serves on our Bedford Cancer Foundation board, about getting the Bedford Cancer Foundation involved with the movement they started 16 years ago. Taylor’s father and Pope, Brad Sudduth who passed earlier this year from cancer, were good buddies. Their families became very close over the years and consider one another to be more like family. The Bedford Cancer Foundation is excited for the opportunity to partner with the Pope Family and two of the local High Schools to host not one, but two Coaches’ vs Cancer Events this year! The hope is to expand this event to all high schools by next year.

Cascade High Schools event will be held Tuesday, January 17th. The Spaghetti Dinner will be served from 4:30 – 6:30 PM in the high school’s cafeteria. Shelbyville Central High Schools event will be held Tuesday, January 31st. The Spaghetti Dinner will be served from 4:30 – 6:30 PM in the high school’s cafeteria. Dinner tickets for both events will be $10/each and can be pre-purchased or bought at the door. To-Go plates will be available also. You can pre-purchase a t-shirt to show your support also. T-Shirts can be pre-ordered through January 6th. For more information on purchasing dinner tickets or a t-shirt, please contact Shelby Taylor at 931-224-8815. 

The money raised from the spaghetti dinner will go towards 2 scholarships given to a Cascade High School and Shelbyville Central High School Student who have been impacted by cancer. Taylor received this scholarship in 2015 when she graduated from Cascade High School in 2015. The money raised from the t-shirt sales will be split between the Bedford Cancer Foundation, who help alleviate the financial burden of cancer for eligible patients in Bedford Co, TN - Assistance is usually a monetary gift to help with day-to-day expenses, and the Jimmy V Foundation for Cancer Research, who does cancer research and gives grants nationwide.