Historic Landmarks In The U.S. And Canada Light Up In Support Of Stand Up To Cancer And Stand Up To Cancer Canada

LOS ANGELES and NEW YORK, Aug. 27, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Our most iconic structures represent not only the heart of a city, but the soul of its people. More than a dozen buildings and landmarks across the United States and Canada will be illuminated in a united show of support for the upcoming biennial Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) "roadblock" telecast airing in both the United States and Canada.  Participating buildings and landmarks include Niagara Falls and The Peace Bridge (US and Canadian falls), Rockefeller Center® (New York), CN Tower (Toronto), Willis Tower and The Wrigley Building (Chicago), The Capital Wheel (Washington D.C.), Houston City Hall, LAX Gateway (Los Angeles), One Liberty Place and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (Philadelphia), Pacific Wheel Ferris wheel at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier, Toronto City Hall, the Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge (Boston), The Parthenon (Nashville), Terminal Tower (Cleveland), Big Dam Bridge and Two Rivers Park Bridge (Little Rock) and The Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory (Milwaukee).  All will be lit in a combination of SU2C's signature colors: red, orange, yellow or white.  The live, one-hour fundraising telecast, through which the entertainment community engages the public in supporting cancer research that gets new therapies to patients quickly, will air commercial-free simultaneously Friday, Sept. 5, at 8pm/7pm Central.

The telecast will be executive produced by Emmy®-winning producer Joel Gallen, president of Tenth Planet Productions, and Oscar®-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow.  ABC, CBS, FOX, and NBC, along with ABC Family, American Forces Network, Bravo, Cooking Channel, Discovery Fit & Health, E!, Encore, Encore Espanol, EPIX, ESPNews, FOX Sports 2, FXM, HBO, HBO Latino, ION Television, Lifetime Movie Network, Logo TV, MLB Network, National Geographic Channel, Oxygen, Palladia, Pivot, SHOWTIME, Smithsonian Channel, Starz, TNT and VH1 are donating one hour of simultaneous commercial-free primetime for the nationally televised fundraising special on Friday, September 5, to be broadcast live from the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.  The show will stream live on Hulu and Yahoo in the U.S.

For the first time, there will be a Canadian-inclusive co-broadcast of the Stand Up To Cancer special this September, which will air simultaneously on all four major English-language Canadian networks: CBC, City, CTV and Global, along with Canadian services AMI, CHCH, CHEK, Fight Network, Hollywood Suite and TLN.  All funds received from the Canadian general public during the broadcast will stay in Canada to support the creation of collaborative research teams, as well as education and awareness programs.

Buildings and landmarks to be lit in support of Stand Up To Cancer bring the initiative into communities spanning the continent from east to west:

• The Leonard P. Zakim Bunker Hill Memorial Bridge in Boston will be lit red, orange and yellow from August 28 through August 31.  The bridge is one of the widest cable-stayed bridges in the world. The Bridge is named after civil rights activist Lenny Zakim and the American colonists who fought the British in the Battle of Bunker Hill.
• Rockefeller Center® will be lit in a red and orange combination on August 28 from dusk until midnight.  The world-famous real estate, shopping and dining complex in midtown Manhattan is also home to the historic Top of the Rock® Observation Deck and the world's most famous Christmas tree.
• One Liberty Place in Center City Philadelphia will be lit red from August 28 through September 2.  One Liberty Place is the 61-story iconic Trophy Tower that redefined the skyline of Philadelphia.
• The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia will be lit red and yellow from August 28 through August 31.  Since its start in 1855 as the nation's first hospital devoted exclusively to caring for children, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia has been the birthplace for many dramatic firsts in pediatric medicine.  The Hospital has fostered medical discoveries and innovations that have improved pediatric healthcare and saved countless children's lives.  The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia also has one of the largest pediatric cancer programs in the United States, which has been top ranked by U.S. News & World Report and Parents Magazine. 
• The Capital Wheel, National Harbor's newest world-class attraction, will be lit white, red, orange and yellow on August 28.  The Capital Wheel is one of an elite group of observation wheels around the globe.  The new attraction soars 180-feet above the Potomac River in Prince George's County, Maryland.
• The Peace Bridge will be lit orange, red and yellow on August 28.  The international bridge spans 5,800 feet and connects the city of Buffalo, New York, to the Town of Fort Erie, Ontario. It is consistently the busiest border crossing for automobiles between Canada and the United States.
• The Niagara Falls Illumination Board will illuminate Niagara Falls in the SU2C colors of orange, red and amber on September 5 at 10:30 p.m. to help raise awareness and support for the Stand Up To Cancer initiative.  Niagara Falls is the collective name for the three waterfalls (American, Bridal and Canadian Horseshoe Falls) and two communities that straddle the international border connecting Canada and the United States.
• The CN Tower in Toronto will be lit orange, red and white on August 28.  Defining the Toronto skyline, at a height of 553.33m (1,815 ft., 5 inches), the CN Tower is Canada's National Tower, an engineering Wonder and Toronto's must see attraction visited by over 1.5 million people each year. 416-868-6937. www.cntower.ca
• Toronto City Hall will be lit red, orange and yellow from August 28 through September 5.  The Toronto City Hall is the home of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the city's most distinctive landmarks.
• Terminal Tower in Cleveland will be lit orange, red and yellow on August 28.  The centerpiece of Tower City Center, the striking profile of the Terminal Tower dominates the Cleveland skyline and is visible from virtually all areas of the city.
• The Parthenon in Nashville will be lit red on August 28.  Originally built for Tennessee's 1897 Centennial Exposition, this full-scale replica of the original Parthenon in Athens serves as a monument to what is considered the pinnacle of classical architecture and stands as the centerpiece of Centennial Park, Nashville's premier urban park.
• Willis Tower will be lit red and orange from August 28 through August 31. Standing tall above every other skyscraper in Chicago, Willis Tower is a 110-story building in the heart of downtown.
• The Wrigley Building in Chicago will be lit red, orange and yellow from August 28 through August 31. The iconic building is part of Chicago's celebrated Magnificent Mile.
• The Mitchell Park Horticultural Conservatory in Milwaukee will be lit red from August 29 through August 31.  Also known as the Mitchell Park Domes, they are the world's only conoidal glass houses. The three Domes, each almost half a football field wide, by seven stories tall, are home to flowers and plants from tropical and arid locations around the world. 
• Big Dam Bridge and Two Rivers Park Bridge in Little Rock will be lit orange, red and yellow on August 28.  The Big Dam Bridge spans the Arkansas River and Murray Lock and Dam between Little Rock and North Little Rock and is the longest pedestrian/bicycle bridge in North America that has never been used by trains or motor vehicles.  Two Rivers Bridge is a pedestrian bridge that marks the western part of the Arkansas River Trail loop and connects to Two Rivers Park.
• Houston City Hall will be lit orange, red and yellow August 28 through September 1.  Located in downtown Houston, TX, the building is the headquarters of the city of Houston's government.  The simply designed structure features many construction details that have helped to make this building an architectural classic.
• The LAX Gateway pylons will be lit orange, red and yellow on August 28, August 30 and August 31.  The 1.5-mile lineup of tempered glass columns of increasing height, from 25 to 60 feet along Century Boulevard, culminates with a ring of 15 100-foot-tall columns at the intersection of Century and Sepulveda boulevards.  Together, with 32-foot-high letters spelling out "L-A-X," the pylons have become a landmark and the symbolic gateway of Los Angeles International Airport.
• The Pacific Wheel Ferris wheel at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier will be lit white, red and yellow from August 28 through September 1. The Pacific Wheel is the world's only solar-powered Ferris wheel featuring 160,000 energy-efficient LED lights that present dynamic, custom, computer-generated lighting entertainment each evening. The nine-story tall Ferris wheel stands 130 feet above the Pacific Ocean and provides guests with spectacular views of the Southern California coastline, Catalina Island, and Santa Monica Bay.

This year's Stand Up To Cancer roadblock telecast -- the fourth since SU2C, the US-based initiative, was founded in 2008 -- will feature performances from top recording artists, along with celebrities from film and television, and powerful stories of remarkable progress being made through SU2C-funded research.

This star-studded appeal will continue to build public support to accelerate the pace of groundbreaking translational research that can get new therapies to patients quickly, saving lives and helping more cancer patients become long-term cancer survivors. SU2C brings together scientists from different disciplines across institutions and international boundaries to work collaboratively on promising new treatments that will impact a wide range of cancer types.

The first three SU2C telecasts took place on September 5, 2008, September 10, 2010 and September 7, 2012, and were made available to more than 190 countries. To date, more than $261 million has been pledged to support SU2C's innovative cancer research programs. Since 2008, the US-based SU2C initiative has funded 12 "Dream Teams" of researchers and two translational research teams, as well as 26 young innovative scientists whose high-risk, potentially high-reward projects are aimed at ending cancer's reign as a leading cause of death worldwide.

About Stand Up To Cancer

Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C) raises funds to accelerate the pace of research to get new therapies to patients quickly and save lives now. SU2C, a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, was established in 2008 by film and media leaders who utilize the industry's resources to engage the public in supporting a new, collaborative model of cancer research, and to increase awareness about cancer prevention as well as progress being made in the fight against the disease.  As SU2C's scientific partner, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and a Scientific Advisory Committee led by Nobel Laureate Phillip A. Sharp, Ph.D., conduct rigorous, competitive review processes to identify the best research proposals to recommend for funding, oversee grants administration, and provide expert review of research progress.

Current members of the SU2C Council of Founders and Advisors (CFA) include Katie Couric, Sherry Lansing, Kathleen Lobb, Lisa Paulsen, Rusty Robertson, Sue Schwartz, Pamela Oas Williams, and Ellen Ziffren. All current members of the CFA were co-producers of the 2012 televised special. The late co-founder Laura Ziskin executive produced both the Sept. 5, 2008, and Sept. 10, 2010, broadcasts. SU2C was formally launched on May 27, 2008. Sung Poblete, Ph.D., R.N., has served as SU2C's president and CEO since 2011.

In addition to "Visionary" donors Major League Baseball, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, MasterCard, and The Sidney Kimmel Foundation for Cancer Research, other major donors and collaborators that are currently engaged with SU2C include Genentech, Prostate Cancer Foundation, American Cancer Society, The Safeway Foundation, Bristol-Myers Squibb, KWF (The Dutch Cancer Society), St. Baldrick's Foundation, Lustgarten Foundation, Cancer Research UK, Sean Parker Foundation, Fox Family Cancer Research Funding Trust, Fifth Third Bank, Melanoma Research Alliance, Cancer Research Institute, Room Key, Ovarian Cancer Research Fund, Ovarian Cancer National Alliance, National Ovarian Cancer Coalition, Laura Ziskin Family Trust, Farrah Fawcett Foundation,  and Siemens.  For more information on Stand Up To Cancer, visit www.standup2cancer.org.

About EIF Canada / Stand Up To Cancer Canada

EIF Canada, a Canadian registered charity (Reg. # 80550 6730 RR0001), founded by the U.S.-based Entertainment Industry Foundation, was established to conduct charitable programs in Canada addressing health and other issues. Stand Up To Cancer Canada (SU2C Canada) is a program of EIF Canada that raises funds to support collaborative research teams, as well as education and awareness programs conducted in Canada.

Organizations collaborating with the SU2C Canada initiative include the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, with support from CIBC; the Canadian Cancer Society; the Cancer Stem Cell Consortium, with funding from Genome Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research; the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, and The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids). MasterCard and AstraZeneca are the first Canadian corporate supporters of SU2C Canada.

For more information, please visit www.standup2cancer.ca.

About the Entertainment Industry Foundation

Stand Up To Cancer is a program of the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF), the 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization that serves as the collective philanthropy for the television and film businesses. EIF has distributed hundreds of millions of dollars to support programs addressing critical health, education and social issues. For more information, visit www.eifoundation.org.

About the American Association for Cancer Research

Founded in 1907, the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) is the world's oldest and largest professional organization dedicated to advancing cancer research and its mission to prevent and cure cancer. AACR membership includes more than 34,000 laboratory, translational, and clinical researchers; population scientists; other health care professionals; and cancer advocates in more than 90 countries. The AACR convenes more than 20 conferences and educational workshops every year, the largest of which is the AACR Annual Meeting with more than 18,000 attendees. The AACR publishes eight peer-reviewed scientific journals and a magazine for cancer survivors, patients, and their caregivers and funds meritorious research directly as well as in cooperation with numerous cancer organizations. As the Scientific Partner of SU2C, the AACR provides expert peer review, grants administration, and scientific oversight of team science and individual grants.   For more information about the AACR, visit www.AACR.org.

www.standup2cancer.org| facebook.com/su2c| Instagram: @SU2C| Twitter: @SU2C
www.standup2cancer.ca | facebook.com/su2c.ca | Instagram: @SU2C_CA| Twitter: @SU2C_CA

SOURCE Stand Up To Cancer