It has been six days since we began the Hope Fights Childhood Cancer campaign and so far, you’ve donated over $50,000 to benefit childhood cancer research! To help us reach our goal of $300,000 by the end of September, visit any Kneaders Bakery & Café to purchase elephant sugar cookies and limited-edition elephant retail items, round up your purchase at the register, or make a cash donation. You can also visit our Hope Fights Childhood Cancer website to make a donation and purchase elephant retail items and sugar cookies.
You may have heard the story behind our elephant sugar cookies, but did you know that many of our elephant retail items are also inspired by a personal experience with cancer? Today we’re sharing the story behind our exclusive crazy socks designed by our friends at Woven Pear.
Our founders were heartbroken when they learned their grandson, Tanner, had been diagnosed with stage IV Hodgkin’s lymphoma in 2015. Where there used to be laughter, sports, and activities with friends, Tanner’s typical teenage life turned into overnight chemotherapy sessions at the hospital, painful radiation treatments, and doctor appointments. Every day of Tanner’s life was spent trying to survive and every day he was faced with the real possibility that he might not win his fight.
Tanner’s family was determined to do everything they could to help his recovery. They wanted to find a way to lift his spirits during chemotherapy. Tanner’s Aunt Christy had an idea to wear crazy socks on the days of his treatments and post them on social media. Christy, along with over 100 extended family members, friends, and even a few family dogs posted pictures wearing crazy socks. This brought laughter and love to Tanner at a very difficult time and showed him he wasn’t fighting cancer alone.
Tanner is now cancer-free, but 16,000 other children are diagnosed with cancer every year in the United States. In the spirit of Tanner’s crazy socks, we are proud to donate proceeds of every Woven Pear crazy sock purchase to support Dr. Schiffman’s promising research.
Read more about the need to support childhood cancer research from our ambassadors: