Newk’s Cares, the ovarian cancer awareness movement launched by the fast-casual Newk’s Eatery, has reached a fundraising milestone of more than $500,000 in three years.
Earlier this year, Newk’s Eatery rallied its restaurants to raise over $110,000 for the cause, in honor of the brand’s 100th restaurant opening.
On the organization’s Ovarian Cycle Jackson third anniversary, Sept. 29, a spin celebration united riders and collected a total of $159,395 in donations to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund Alliance (OCRFA).
These two major efforts, together with Newk’s Cares year-round in-restaurant campaign — which donates $0.10 from every water bottle sold to ovarian cancer research — helped the organization surpass the half-million-dollar mark.
“At the start of Newk’s Cares, none of us could have predicted we would be passing the $500,000 mark two years in and have had the opportunity to engage hundreds of women and their loved ones in a conversation that has life-saving potential,” Chris Newcomb, Newk’s Eatery co-founder and chief executive officer, said in a press release.
Newk’s Cares was created in 2014 from a kitchen table idea, after co-founder and Chris Newcomb’s wife, Lori Newcomb, was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Since then, it has grown to be a national campaign in partnership with the OCRFA — one of the largest global organizations dedicated to advancing ovarian cancer research and supporting patients and their families — featuring in-store and online educational resources in all Newk’s Eatery franchise-owned restaurants.
“When I was diagnosed with Stage IIIC ovarian cancer in 2013, I knew very little about this disease — as do so many women worldwide,” said Lori Newcomb, also the chain’s co-founder. “Right now, there’s no screening test available to detect ovarian cancer early on, and that’s why it’s so important for women to be aware of the warning signs.”
Newk’s Cares is committed to calling attention to this ‘silent killer’ and to raising financial support for finding a cure and new treatments.
Ovarian cancer is the fifth-leading cause of cancer death among women, according to the organization, and only 46 percent of women survive the diagnosis more than five years — in comparison to the nearly 89 percent survival rates for breast cancer diagnoses.
If detected early and treated properly, ovarian cancer survival rates increase to over 92 percent. Although 200,000 women currently live with an ovarian cancer diagnosis in the United States, funds for this disease rank among the lowest of any gynecological or breast cancer.