A Jacksonville pizza chain has started a nonprofit to support families coping with cancer. And now, V Pizza is raffling off a car as part of its charity to help the families.
Two years ago, Paul Scott, one of the owners of V Pizza, startedV For Victory, after his son Charlie was diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at 3-years-old.
The nonprofit partners with over 400 local businesses. These businesses offer free services once a month to the families. Services can be from dog walking to lawn mowing to meal deliveries.
When the charity first started in 2017, Scott said he was worried about what people might think.
“Our biggest thing was we never wanted to fall into a pitfall of somebody saying the charity wasn’t doing good enough, money wasn’t going to the right place,” said Scott on First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross on Wednesday morning.
Related: Listen to the full interview with Scott
Along with monthly services, families that sign up for V For Victory can eat at V Pizza for free until their treatments are over.
Scott said, “Every single penny that is donated to V For Victory goes to families. Not one penny goes to salaries or advertisements or anything like that.”
Scott and childhood friend Ryan O’Toole went on a 2,300-mile race along the West Coast to raise money for V For Victory. The “Great Race” started in Riverside, Calif. and went north to Tacoma, Wash.
Scott and O’Toole asked people in the community to donate a penny per mile. By the end of the race they raised over $15,000.
Now the nonprofit is raffling the 1966 Volvo 220-series station wagon they drove in the race. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at any V Pizza location. The winner will be announced July 21.
More information on V For Victory can be found on their website.
Madison Roberts can be reached at newsteam@wjct.org or (904)358-6317.
