Wear an Ugly Holiday Sweater to Stand Up to Cancer

This past weekend, after the turkey coma wore off and my family began to decorate the house in garland and lights, I did what every 20-something year old does in preparation for the season: I went straight to my closet to dig up my red and green, jingle-bell-dazzled Holiday sweater, of course. Yes, ugly holiday sweater parties are a staple of my December regimen.

And then I came across this little nugget of online ingenuity: Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C)’s newly launched digital “Ugly Sweater Holiday Campaign.” Beginning December 1, donning a tacky holiday sweater will do more than just elicit chuckles from friends, family and co-workers. It will help raise critical funds for innovative, translational cancer research.

How it Works

Participation is easy and can be done in two ways. Ugly sweater owners can decide how many days between December 1 and 31 they can bear to sport their unflattering casualwear. They then sign up at SU2C.org/ugly to create their own Ugly Sweater fundraising page, where supporters can donate a “per day” amount to benefit SU2C. Another option is to host an Ugly Sweater party and ask that guests give a suggested donation via the same Ugly Sweater fundraising pages.

All proceeds raised through the Ugly Sweater campaign will go directly to funding SU2C’s groundbreaking research. SU2C brings together scientists from different disciplines across multiple institutions to collaborate on research that will deliver new therapies to patients quickly and save lives.

“This campaign gives everyone a chance to do something good while embracing a favorite holiday tradition – sporting their favorite ugly sweaters,” said Pam Williams, member of SU2C’s Executive Leadership Council. “It’s time to pull those ugly sweaters out of mothballs and put them to work at office parties, family gatherings and even at the mall. This campaign is our way of saying, ‘Hey cancer, it’s gonna get ugly.’”

Everyone participating can help raise awareness for this fundraising effort by sharing, liking and mocking the swarm of ugly sweater pictures posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram with the hashtag #uglysweater.

Why This Matters

In America, more than 1.2 million new patients are diagnosed with cancer every year. In other words, a new cancer is diagnosed every 30 seconds in the United States. In fact, cancer accounts for nearly 1 of every 4 deaths in America. We can change that. Grab that ugly holiday sweater and make a statement this season. It may not be fashion-forward, but it will move forward the progress in much needed cancer research.

[Photo Credit: Sammy Davis Vintage]