{"id":57,"date":"2026-07-30T19:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T19:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.charitybuzz.com\/blog\/?p=57"},"modified":"2026-08-06T13:21:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-06T13:21:43","slug":"old-school-new-purpose-will-ferrell-hosts-a-good-evening-dinner-with-charitybuzz-access","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.charitybuzz.com\/blog\/old-school-new-purpose-will-ferrell-hosts-a-good-evening-dinner-with-charitybuzz-access\/","title":{"rendered":"Old School, New Purpose: Charitybuzz Hosts a Good Evening with Will Ferrell"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you heard that Will Ferrell was getting the gang back together for a wild night out with his old college crew, you&#8217;d probably assume someone was finally making Old School 2. Close, but it was actually something even better. Charitybuzz hosted Will Ferrell for an intimate dinner benefiting Cancer for College, raising more than $300,000 as part of its exclusive <em>Good<\/em> Evening dinner series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Will Ferrell became connected with Cancer for College through his friendship with the organization\u2019s founders, Craig and Stacy Pollard. Craig and Will were fraternity brothers at the University of Southern California, where Stacy also attended. The charity provides college scholarships and mentorship for young people diagnosed with cancer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the gorgeous Republique restaurant in L.A., the three old friends hosted an intimate gathering of Charitybuzz community members. While the guest list was tight, the backgrounds, industries, and life stories of the attendees were wide-ranging. Entrepreneurs, creatives, lawyers, and artists came together to share a laugh and gather in support of this incredible cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ever charming, Will had people in stitches, laughing until they cried. He shared stories from his days at SNL and his wide-ranging filmography, which expands beyond comedies to include drama, documentary, and even a Spanish-language film. Craig credited Will with propelling Cancer for College\u2019s success. Will is not just a spokesperson for the organization, but is deeply involved at many levels. The camaraderie between the two was highlighted when Craig praised Will by saying, \u201cBecoming Will Ferrell couldn\u2019t have happened to a better guy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Anchored by Will and Craig\u2019s decades-long relationship, family emerged as a theme over the course of the dinner. One of the Charitybuzz guests shared that he felt compelled to attend the dinner because Will\u2019s movies had become a family tradition to watch during the holiday season. Another brought his two children to the event, showing that it\u2019s never too early to start giving back. Will shared stories and advice learned from his own father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It is fitting that family became so central to the conversation, as Cancer for College doesn\u2019t just lift up young people, but provides relief for whole families. In addition to the stress of caring for a child with cancer, families must balance medical bills, ancillary expenses and still save for college.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Childhood cancer survival rates are over 80%. And while a good prognosis can be a relief, sometimes young people and their families don\u2019t know what to do next after the fight with the disease is over. Medical expenses can completely change a family&#8217;s financial situation, potentially stripping away once-planned opportunities, such as going to college. That\u2019s where Cancer for College steps in. They\u2019ve awarded more than $8 million in scholarships to more than 2,000 students.\u200b<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Craig Pollard was initially diagnosed with cancer at 15 and had the disease come back in college. He is now a five-time cancer survivor. Early on, Craig connected with other patients, survivors, and their families. While still in college, Craig had a moving conversation with the parents of a child with cancer. During which they shared that Craig provided them hope for their own child, as Craig was still able to attend college despite his illness. Compelled to action, Craig launched Cancer for College. He wanted other children with cancer to know that they do have a future and that he and his organization can help them make it a reality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Charitybuzz is grateful to host Will Ferrell and Cancer for College as part of our \u201c<em>Good <\/em>Evening\u201d series. The unique combination of lively conversations, engaging guests, and incredible causes is exactly what you can expect from a Charitybuzz affair.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you heard that Will Ferrell was getting the gang back together for a wild night out with his old college crew, you&#8217;d probably assume someone was finally making Old School 2. Close, but it was actually something even better. Charitybuzz hosted Will Ferrell for an intimate dinner benefiting Cancer for College, raising more than [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,6],"class_list":["post-57","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-moments-of-impact","tag-charitybuzz-hosts-a-good-evening","tag-moments-of-impact"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charitybuzz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charitybuzz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charitybuzz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charitybuzz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charitybuzz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.charitybuzz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":68,"href":"https:\/\/www.charitybuzz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57\/revisions\/68"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charitybuzz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.charitybuzz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charitybuzz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.charitybuzz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}