Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival Joining Forces To Help Fight Cancer With Tag Time Happy Hour
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Instead of the traditional Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival this weekend, many Philadelphia restaurants and businesses are joining forces to help fight cancer.
It's called Tag Time Happy Hour. In addition to cocktails, participants are donating to cancer research, a mission put together by a Philadelphia couple sharing more than just a love of food.
It's a family of foodies. Kristina and Jim Burke are well-known Philadelphia chefs who are also both battling cancer.
"I was diagnosed with breast cancer in October of 2019," Kristina said.
And then, this past August, Jim found out he has advanced lung cancer.
"It was devastating," he said. "I had led a fairly healthy lifestyle my whole life."
Now, life is focused on happy times with the kids and the Burkes have created something called Tag Time Happy Hour, named for Jim's cancer medicine called TAGRISSO.
"He takes it nightly between the hours of 5 and 6," Kristina said, "so for us, that's happy hour time, and I called it tag time and everybody got on the tag time train and I thought, I really have something here."
They've turned it into a fundraiser to support lung cancer research.
"I do like to put a cheerful positive spin on things," Kristina said.
It's a series of pop-up happy hours at bars, restaurants, and other locations with a portion of drink sales being donated to Tag Time Happy Hour.
"It's phenomenal," Kristina said. "I meant it without being too corny. It's like a giant hug from all your friends."
The restaurant community is coming together for them again during this weekend's annual Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival, donating some proceeds to Tag Time.
"It really will move the needle," Kristina said. "The research is for someone exactly like him but will also help so many families."
All about helping other families with cancer, while keeping their family well feed and immersed in love.
"They feed me positivity," Jim said, "and that's where all the tag time responses that people had and just, all of that, you just need as much positivity as you can."
The Burkes' fundraising is going to the LUNGevity Foundation, which supports lung cancer research. For more information on the fundraiser, click here.
