When their friend, Will, was diagnosed with a serious and rare kidney disease, Chris Whitney and his friends knew they needed to do something to help and the Tampa Pig Jig was born. Three years later, they have raised millions of dollars for Nephcure Kidney International in Will's honor.
Video Transcript
Chris Whitney: My name's Chris Whitney, and I started an event called the Tampa Pig Jig. And it started as a simple, backyard barbecue.
At the same time our good buddy, Will, had gone through a kidney transplant. Ryan just said, "Why don't we do this for Will?"
A few weeks later, we had about 100 of our closest friends and family over to Vince's backyard, and four sponsors, and we had some live music and some great food, and everybody had an absolute blast. We raised about $7,000.
Now, in seven years, there's over $3 million for an organization called NephCure Kidney International. We started from day one, even before we decided to do this for Will, and ultimately for NephCure. Let's have an event that people want to come to and have fun.
I think everybody has a desire to be a part of something larger than them, has a desire to do something good. Pair those things together, and make it fun, then you've got something, and the sky is the limit. That's really been what's made us successful.
