Started a dozen years ago, the annual Bob Huggins Fish Fry continues to raise money to support cancer services as well as the Remember the Miners Scholars Program.
This year, the 12th fish fry, presented by Little General Stores, raised nearly $700,000 to benefit the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Endowment in support of cancer care services at Vandalia Health.
The Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Endowment was established by the Huggins family in their mother’s name to support cancer care and research across West Virginia.
“As a family, we decided years ago to do everything we could possibly do to raise money for cancer research,” Huggins said prior to the start of Saturday’s event. “This is one of the great events, I think, in Morgantown.”
The partnership between Huggins and Vandalia Health aims to help provide cancer care services spanning the entire state of West Virginia.
David Goldberg, president and CEO of Mon Health System and executive vice president of Vandalia Health, said he couldn’t be more thankful for the Huggins family, which includes the former Mountaineer basketball coach, his brothers and sisters.
“We are able to take these dollars, invest in our people, invest in our facilities and invest in our programs to make sure our cancer program continues to be a leader in the state and to make sure that care is accessible to everybody where they live, where they play, where they thrive,” said Goldberg, adding, he wants to “bend the curve to be able to help cure cancer here in West Virginia and beyond.”
The Remember the Miners Scholars Program provides scholarships to engineering students who concentrate on mining and mining safety.
The West Virginia Mine Rescue team traveled to Colorado and British Columbia, Canada, over the past two years to compete in international competitions, winning both. Without financial help from the fish fry, that would not have been possible.
Comprised of CAMC Health System, Davis Health System and Mon Health System, Vandalia Health provides cancer care services across its seven cancer treatment centers around the state. The health system is recognized and nationally accredited by several prestigious organizations.
Both CAMC and Mon Health System’s Cancer Centers are accredited by the Commission on Cancer, a quality program of the American College of Surgeons, ensuring the centers’ comprehensive cancer care including a complete range of state-of-the-art services and equipment, a multidisciplinary team approach to coordinate the best available treatment options, access to prevention and early detection programs, a cancer registry that offers lifelong patient follow-up and more.
CAMC Cancer Center has been recognized by the U.S. News & World Report as a High Performing Hospital in 2023-24 in both Colon Cancer Surgery and for Leukemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma. In addition, CAMC Cancer Center is accredited by DNV and the Quality Oncology Practice Initiative Certification Program, an affiliate of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
Mon Health Medical Center is also accredited as a Lung Cancer Screening Center by the American College of Radiology.
“We thank Coach Bob Huggins, Larry Huggins, the Huggins family, our Vandalia staff, volunteers, donors and event team for delivering a communitysought-after Fish Fry,” said Goldberg. “More than 1,000 attendees heard music from three great performers, ate delicious food from The Mason Jar, heard great stories from famed Steelers players Rocky Bleier and Jack Ham, WVU great Meg Bulger and gave so generously. Little General Stores, Mr. and Mrs. Ike Morris, Hope Gas and so many other generous donors made this annual event so meaningful for our cancer program across Vandalia Health hospitals and the Remember the Miners Scholars Program. We are humbled, proud, and can’t wait for next year.”
