Faith Martin is hitting the bricks Oct. 1 for Izzy, her younger sister and best friend, who lost her life to osteosarcoma in 2022, just two years after her diagnosis.

Because raising money to support cancer research could make all the difference in someone’s life, events like Wake Forest University’s Hit the Bricks are so important to Martin. A first-year student from Dallas, she is one of the top five individual Hit the Bricks fundraisers so far this year.

“I really wanted to be involved in Hit the Bricks as soon as I could,” said Martin, who serves as an ambassador for the event. “I’m so happy to share this passion with a lot of other people.”

Hit the Bricks is a relay team event, and more than 1,000 Wake Forest students, faculty, staff and friends in the community will take turns running or walking around iconic Hearn Plaza from 10 a.m.- 6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1.

The laps start right after a 10 a.m. opening ceremony and continue until the closing ceremony at 6 p.m. 

Hit the Bricks raises funds for cancer research in honor of Brian Piccolo, a Wake Forest All-American football player who lost his battle with embryonal cell carcinoma at the age of 26 while playing in the NFL for the Chicago Bears. His story is told in the film “Brian’s Song.”

The closing ceremony, which will for the first time include remarks from Piccolo’s daughter, Traci Piccolo Dolby, features a final, silent lap of remembrance for those who have lost their lives to or are fighting the battle against cancer.  

Money collected for the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund, established by Wake Forest students in 1980, benefits treatment and research at the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist.

Through annual fundraising efforts that include Hit the Bricks, donations have supported clinical trials for new pancreatic cancer drugs, cutting-edge research equipment, and new positions to support cancer patients. 

Building a community around Pro Humanitate

This will be the last relay on campus for Theo Berson, a senior communications major from Avon, Conn., who serves as this year’s Hit the Bricks executive director. His goal since his first year at Wake Forest has been to increase participation. Last year, as junior executive, he led a campaign to create teams for all first-year dorms. This year, he did the same for academic departments.

He said he’ll miss the teamwork and collaboration that Hit the Bricks has fostered for him, both in planning the event and running the laps. Teamwork, he said, is the secret to winning the race.

“It is a very important team collaboration, and we cannot express that enough,” he said. “It’s not an individual event. If you want to win, you must capitalize on having teams.”

Ellie DeMinico, a communications major from Cleveland who is this year’s junior director, focused her efforts on expanding the event’s sponsor ranks—and she landed both the NFL and the Chicago Bears. She got involved with Hit the Bricks after spending the full 12 hours at the Wake ‘N Shake dance marathon, the spring fundraiser for the Brian Piccolo fund, her sophomore year. 

“I remember just enjoying it so much, that collective drive as a school to do good for the community, that I wanted to become more involved with the Piccolo events in some capacity,” she said.

The event is indeed an example of the university’s motto—Pro Humanitate, or For Humanity—in action, said Brad Shugoll, director of service and leadership with Wake Forest’s Office of Civic and Community Engagement. He supports the student organizers of Hit the Bricks each year, and has participated nine times. 

“It truly brings our entire campus together for a collective effort to find a cure for cancer,” he said. “It shows the power of collective impact and the role that fundraising plays in cancer research.”

The preliminary total amount of money raised by this year’s Hit the Bricks will be announced during the closing ceremony. In 2024, Hit the Bricks raised $311,913. 

Since Hit the Bricks began in 2003, more than 20,000 participants have raised more than $1.8 million for the Brian Piccolo Cancer Fund. Wake Forest hosts other annual events to support research and programs at the Comprehensive Cancer Center, raising more than $6.5 million for the fund to date.

Members of the media are invited to cover Hit the Bricks on Hearn Plaza from 10 a.m.-6 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 1. For information, contact Alicia Roberts at (336) 758-3158 or media@wfu.edu.