Jeff Gordon to match funds raised through Kick-It in September

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Jeff Gordon will personally match all funds -- up to $150,000 -- raised through Kick-It games held in the month of September in honor of Childhood Cancer Awareness Month to help bring awareness to childhood cancer and the crucial need for increased funding for research.

Kick-It is a grassroots fundraising program that secures critical dollars for childhood cancer research through the simple game of kickball. Participants establish teams and use their network to raise funds much like a traditional 5K charity run. Kick-It games have been played throughout the country and as far away as Australia in backyards, parks and even baseball stadiums. To locate or organize an event in your community, visit www.kick-it.org/jeffgordon.

"No game is too small since every dollar raised moves us closer to a cure," Gordon said. "Childhood cancer remains the number one cause of death by disease for children in our country. Until every child is cured we will remain steadfast in our efforts to fund research."

Jeff Gordon Children's Foundation will host the 2nd Annual Charlotte Kicks-It kickball tournament at CMC-NorthEast Stadium, home of the Kannapolis Intimidators, on Sunday, Sept. 7. Proceeds raised will benefit childhood cancer research at Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte.  To register, click here.

To date, Kick-It has raised over $2 million dollars for childhood cancer research. Each year, nearly 14,000 children in the U.S. alone are diagnosed with cancer.  Childhood cancer spares no ethnic group, socioeconomic class or geographic region and, although great strides have been made in treating certain types of cancer, there still remains a zero percent survival rate for others.