Hall County Sheriff’s Lt. Greg Cochran joined the American Cancer Society Saturday morning in their Flippin' for the Tatas fundraiser in Gainesville.
This is the sixth year Lt. Cochran has participated in the event. Cochran flipped a 555-pound earthmover tire for 20 minutes, with each flip resulting in more money raised for breast cancer research and awareness. Local businesses pledged money for every tire flip prior to the event. Accounting for Cochran’s previous average, each flip was worth roughly $154. With additional donations throughout the fundraiser, the cancer society will bring in just under $20,000. The event was held at the University of North Georgia Gainesville Campus and featured food, trunk-or-treating and arts and crafts.
Cochran was winded after vigorously completing 74 flips in 20 minutes, but finished strong, saying that he always looks forward to participating in the annual event.
“You know, I'm just glad to be a part of the community, in doing what they do,” Cochran said. “This is the sixth year that we've done this for breast cancer, you know, Flippin’ for the Tatas, and it just gets better every year. I think this is our best year as far as the amount of money we've raised, and a good turnout today, considering it was a cold, windy day. So it just—I think it's a great thing. And I'll do it as long as I can do it.”
The Hall County Sheriff’s Lieutenant holds a world record for most tire-flips in one hour, with 203 in 2010. He went on to break his record in 2014 by achieving 205 flips in one hour. Participating in other fundraisers with his tire-flipping talent is what spurred the idea for him to coordinate with the American Cancer Society.
“It kind of just steamrolled from doing the other events, and I connected with Rena Pendley with the American Cancer Society,” Cochran said. “We said, man, we'd love to do something for breast cancer awareness, you know, and we try to come up with names, and all of the sudden we come up with Flippin’ for the Tatas and it’s like, man, that's a really good thing! You know, it sounds cool. And it's just kind of snowballed ever since and just got bigger and bigger.”
Development Director for Georgia’s American Cancer Society Rena Pendley said this is the first year they have incorporated a trunk-or-treat into the fundraiser. She hopes they can make it tradition, with October being breast cancer awareness month. Pendley expressed gratitude for all the local sponsors and businesses that came out in support of the cause.
“We do local programs here for patients, for cancer patients and their families,” Pendley said. “We have a lot of the money that stays locally in our programs. And of course we host the research for cancer. We are the largest not-for-profit research organization with cancer. 80% of everything we raise stays locally.”
15% of the raised funds go back into cancer society events, with 5% going toward administrative fees. Pendley says their fees are the lowest in the nation.
“We're really pleased with that,” Pendley said. “Very proud of what we do as an organization and very proud of volunteers who push the mission forward.”
Pendley says they are planning another Flippin for the Tatas event over the same weekend next year
