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Lady Eagles win big for breast health |
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Thursday, September 25 2008 |
A breast cancer awareness benefit led by the CCHS girls soccer team had everyone in the pink Wednesday night.
By MARK PARKER
for The Post & Mail
So many times in the world of athletics success is determined by a barrage of statistics. Sometimes it is goals for or goals against. Other times it is a won-loss percentage that tells the tale. On Wednesday night the Columbia City Lady Eagle soccer team and the Columbia City High School community came out in force to amass statistics of a different and ultimately more important type.
To mark their 15th year the Lady Eagles dedicated Wednesday night’s contest against the Heritage Lady Patriots to raising awareness of breast cancer and to raise funds for the Whitley County Community Foundation’s Giving Circle of Women’s Health, an organization that uses donations to provide mammograms for women who might otherwise not be able to afford them.
The silent auction of the special pink jerseys that the Lady Eagles donned for Wednesday night’s contest raised $4,130 for the cause, with senior Lauren Greulich’s jersey fetching a whopping $420. Another $1,000 was donated by the Lady Eagle Soccer Boosters, and the students at Little Turtle Elementary gathered $157.14 to add to the total.
Parkview Whitley and the Whitley County Community Foundation headed a list of supporters who helped make the event that drew a number of other clubs, including the CCHS Student Council that sold a myriad of pink items to support the Lady Eagles’ efforts. Among some of the other items were a football autographed by Notre Dame head coach Charlie Wiess, and assorted gift baskets and other “pink” items.
The Lady Eagles won the game 8-0, but in the words of Eagle coach Bill Duffy, “The night was a success on a much larger scale.”
The Lady Eagle soccer team under Duffy’s direction has a long history of “stepping outside themselves”, providing help on a local basis whenever possible. In the past the Lady Eagles have helped house fire victims, sent items to soldiers in Iraq, but this year they decided to try to do something larger.
Duffy and the Lady Eagles approached the Whitley County Community Foundation with the idea earlier this year and the project took off from there. Especially important to Duffy was the concept that breast cancer so affects women and this is a young women’s team.
“I think this is a wonderful thing that the girls and Coach Duffy have come up with,” said Tina Vandersaul, mother of Lady Eagle player, Mallory and a mammography technician at Parkview Whitley Hospital, “and it’s wonderful that thanks to these efforts we are able to provide free mammograms in these tough economic times. It’s nice that the community is able to give like this.”
Duffy summed up the effect on all involved when he said, “I don’t know if 10 years from now, anyone will remember what the score was or even who played, but I think the girls and everyone involved will always remember what happened here tonight.” |
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Last Updated ( Friday, September 26 2008 )
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