Everyday Hero – Matt Pettit

Going by the popular holiday adage, 17-year-old Matt Pettit has taken the stance that it’s better to give than receive.  Matt's grandfather died of prostate cancer before he was born. As an enterprising high school senior, he has helped support prostate cancer research in honor of the grandfather he never had the opportunity to know.

Matt's experience led him to want to create higher levels of awareness for the disease. In an effort to do this, and as part of his senior project, he designed reusable grocery bags to sell with proceeds going to the Prostate Cancer Foundation.

“I got the idea of the bags from my mom who uses similar bags when she shops,” recalls Matt. “In designing the bags,
I decided to use the brown fabric with a blue ribbon because
I felt they complemented each other well. I also felt the color combination would be something both women and men would fee comfortable using.”

Matt first came into contact with prostate cancer patients after working at his father’s urologic medical practice.  He then
later volunteered at a free local prostate cancer clinic screening during the summer.

At the clinic, Matt noticed the high number of men being seen by doctors for prostate cancer screening.  He also began to see that not much was being done on a large public scale to educate men about the disease.

“You see out there a lot of fundraisers and information about breast cancer,” said Matt. “There are pink ribbons everywhere, which I think is great but what about prostate cancer? It’s so common in men, yet the public awareness isn’t as prominent.”

To do his part to change that, Matt organized sales of the bags outside grocery stores within his local community of Bellingham, WA. He contacted various neighborhood retailers to sell bags as well.

Matt ended up raising $1,000 for prostate cancer research - selling more than 200 of his created bags.

“I’m glad I was able to contribute to the fight against prostate cancer,” commented Matt. “It’s not just about the money we raised, but it's also because in some way I feel I was able to make people a little more comfortable discussing the disease. It seemed that the bags became cool to use and I’m happy about that.”

Matt's enthusiastic efforts may inspire others to promote prostate cancer awareness, and if you have a story of someone who has made a difference in prostate cancer awareness, please email info@pcf.org.

PCF will soon be selling the bags designed by Matt. If you would like to receive an email when the bags are available, please fill out this form.