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Members of the GHS Pirates football team work together to assist Pizza 9-Grants in holding a fundraiser for the children of the late Charlene Hatten — a faithful supporter of the team over the years. Brian Hernandez Courtesy photo
GRANTS, N.M. – Grants High School alumnus and former Grants Pirates football player, Shane Barron, graduated in May of this year. Barron played football for the Pirates all four years of high school, and his mother, Charlene Hatten, was a huge supporter of Barron and the Pirates every single one of those four years, all while also battling stage four breast cancer.
After a hard-fought battle, Hatten recently succumbed to the disease and passed away on June 21. Upon receiving the news, family, friends, and the Pirate community offered an abundance of condolences, support, and prayers for Barron and his younger sister, Nicole. One of the ways that the community came together to support Hatten’s two children was by contributing to a fundraiser put on by Pizza 9-Grants. The current Grants Pirates football team and their new head coach, Brandon Hernandez, aided the event by helping with deliveries.
Barron recounted his mother’s role in the community, support of the football team, and their support of her in the past by saying, “My mom was a very well-known person around Grants. She would drop anything for anyone even if she didn’t know you. [The] Grants Pirates [football] team has always backed me and my mom since the day we found out she got diagnosed with breast cancer. The first year my team and coaches found out, we all gave her roses and made sure she knew we were all in her fight with her.”
Pizza 9-Grants has made it known that they are willing to support various causes through fundraisers and events, but the recent fundraiser was special in the way that they were supporting one of their own. Barron worked at Pizza 9 for a short time as a cook and delivery man. Partnering with the Grants Pirates football team, Pizza 9- Grants put together the fundraiser event in support of Hatten’s children on Wednesday, June 30. According to the online flier, the fundraiser started at 10 a.m., and Pizza 9 would donate 40 percent of the day’s sales to Hatten’s children. Anyone who could not support the event through dine-in, carry-out, drivethru, or delivery, was able to offer support by purchasing gift cards online.
The fundraiser event received so much support from the community that Pizza 9 had to stop taking orders an hour earlier than planned to catch up on the backup of existing orders. “Thank you to the Grants Pirates Football Team with helping their brother Shane out during this difficult time for him and his sister Nicole. Nothing says support better than an entire community coming together to rally behind their own. Cibola County is awesome,” said Pizza 9- Grants on a social media post.
When asked what this community effort has meant to Barron and Nicole, Barron said, “For Nicole and I to be having so much support means so much to us. It shows that we will never be alone no matter what we go through. We are so thankful for anyone who helps up and makes sure that we are always doing okay.” Barron continued, describing how he believes his late mother would feel about the community support: “My mom would be lost in words. She was a very independent lady and she was always so thankful for anything that anyone did. It means so much to Nicole and I that the community has our backs when we are going through this hard time.”