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Pork with a Purpose By David W. Brown

This year, more than 30,000 people turned up for Hogs for the Cause, the annual barbecue competition and music festival held at the UNO Lakefront in New Orleans. The event has become one of the largest culinary events in the country, featuring more than 20 bands, and more than 90 barbecue teams serving up their best dishes for hungry festivalgoers.

Y ou probably know all about that because you were probably there! What you might not know is that Hogs for the Cause is a nonprofit organization, and all the money they raise goes to families and facilities confronting pediatric brain cancer, the leading terminal cancer in children in the United States. “The focus from the very beginning has always been to provide direct grants to families with a child going through brain cancer treatment,” said Brad Gottsegen, who has been involved with Hogs for the Cause almost from the start. In the last few years, with the phenom enal growth and success of Hogs for the Cause, the organization has expanded its outreach. “We are also now donating money to cancer centers around the country, and we’ve built two standalone residential lodges: one at Children’s Hospital in New Orleans, and then one at Children’s Hospital at Our Lady

of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge.” Each facility hosts more than a dozen individual suites that families can stay in free of charge while their children are inpatients at the hospital. Hogs for the Cause — and the combined power of food, family and community — has raised staggering numbers. At their 2024 event, which set new records for attendance and sales, the “world’s most delicious fundraiser” (as Forbes magazine described it) raised a staggering $4.3 million. And every dollar is needed. Since the organization’s founding in 2009, Hogs for the Cause has given out over $2.3 million in direct grants to more than 1,800 families battling pediatric cancer, and almost $9 million to hospital programs and charities nationwide. Locally, as Gottsegen described, more than 1,500 families from outside the New Orleans area have stayed at “Hogs House” at Children’s Hospital New Orleans. That project cost $2.5 million, and is a life-changing service.

On average, families whose children are receiving ongoing cancer treat ments have to use these facilities for three weeks, which would ordinarily involve debilitating hotel expenses. This year, Hogs House in Baton Rouge opened for patients at Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital. Annually, more than 13,000 families must travel to Baton Rouge to seek care. The family housing facility cost more than $2 million, and Hogs for the Cause is still raising money to keep it running. It’s not just a Louisiana thing, either. In Mississippi, the organiza tion has devoted over $1.5 million for Children’s of Mississippi, renovating a 22,500-square-foot “Hogs for the Cause Wing” that is dedicated to inpatient beds for children battling cancer and blood disorders. In Green ville, South Carolina, they’ve raised $1 million for Prisma Health Children’s Hospital – Upstate for a cancer inpatient unit. They’re doing similar things in other states as well. Those are staggering figures for a relatively young, grassroots community fundraiser. According to Gottsegen, part of the organization’s success is the way it is structured. Hogs for the Cause is the overseeing organiza tion. It is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, which means it exists exclusively for chari table purposes. In addition to the

The Hogs for the Cause Family Support Home, or “Hogs House,” at Our Lady of the Lake Children’s Hospital opened in February 2024. It provides free on-campus housing for families from outside Greater Baton Rouge with children receiving care. The first Hogs House was built at Children’s Hospital New Orleans in 2018.