The Shoreham Wading River community has announced its seventh Annual Lax Out Cancer games. This year’s event will match the Boys Shoreham-Wading River Wildcats with the Miller Place Panthers. The fundraising drive will be capped off on April 11th as the Varsity and JV Boys squads from both schools will play games. Volunteers are soliciting local businesses and reaching out to family and friends, inviting them to make donations of time, money, food or auction items.

Past experience has shown great support for this event. Crowds will be drawn from not only the competing teams, but neighboring communities and the greater lacrosse community. As the event has grown, so has the generosity of friends, neighbors and local businesses. Prior year’s raffles have had something for everyone, including gift baskets, gift certificates, tickets to professional sports events and even vacations. The event donates 100% of proceeds to help local families facing the daunting physical, emotional and financial difficulties associated with their battle against cancer. The event will include friends, businesses, vendors, various sports teams and media coming together for a shared greater good.

SWR’s new Varsity Coach said, “I am very happy that we are continuing such an significant event. I feel so fortunate to have such a special group of parents, and a supportive community. It is very important to me to have our athletes involved in, and understand the importance of being a concerned and productive community member. It is my goal as their coach to develop these young men into strong leaders, students, employees, and family members through athletics and community service events. It has been a pleasure to watch two rival communities put their athletic competitiveness’ aside for a moment, and unite to fight against such a devastating disease. I want to thank Coach Lizzi and the Miller Place community for making a difference.”

The SWR Wildcat Athletic Club President, Ed Troyano added: “I believe we are very lucky to live in such a great community. Whenever we are asked to rally together for a cause the participation is commendable.”

The SWR community has a long history of supporters and followers far and wide who are loyal to this cause. This year St Charles Hospital joins the list of supporters. St. Charles has made a generous donation to Lax Out Cancer and is helping to raise awareness.

There is a March 19th “Kick Off” at Applebee’s in Miller Place. Both the Miller Place and SWR lacrosse teams will be there “Dining to Donate!” Applebee’s will donate 10% of the bill to Lax Out Cancer. All are invited to participate. A flyer/coupon is available on the lax out cancer website here: http://www.laxoutcancer.com/blog/applebees-dining-to-donate

On the April 11th, guests such as the Long Island Lizards are expected to attend, as well as local radio stations, vendors, the Girls Lacrosse team and many youth teams. Lax Out Cancer has an event journal which any business can participate in. Past journals , electronic donations and general information can be found at LaxOutCancer.com

About Lax Out Cancer:
Lax Out Cancer is a fundraiser that raises money for children or students who are battling cancer. It is run completely by volunteers. All proceeds are divided evenly among the recipients.

About St Charles Orthopedics and Sports Medicine:
St. Charles Orthopedics offers Suffolk’s most comprehensive Sports Medicine program. Through a collaborative partnership with Orthopedic Associates of Long Island, St. Charles provides world-class orthopedic care with 15 physicians and surgeons covering all subspecialty areas. Orthopedic services are provided at 6 convenient Suffolk County offices: Riverhead, East Setauket, Patchogue, Wading River, Commack and Southampton.

Expert physical therapy and rehabilitation services are provided for all types of sports injuries at all eight of St. Charles Hospital’s Outpatient Rehabilitation network. Specialty trained sports medicine physical therapists evaluate and treat athletes with a customized rehabilitation program designed specifically for each athlete’s injury.

For athletes who have sustained a concussion, St. Charles Hospital’s ThinkSMART™™ Concussion Management Center offers the most comprehensive program available, serving student athletes from nearly every district in Suffolk County. Clinicians at ThinkSMART™ offer concussed athletes expert evaluation and specialized care of minor to severe concussions as well as return to play protocol.

Source: https://www.longislandexchange.com/press-releases/swr-to-hold-its-7th-lax-out-cancer-event/

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Rotem Porat (Plantation, Fla.) of the Southern Connecticut State University gymnastics team recently cut her hair and donated to it to the Pantene Beautiful Lengths initiative, which provides wigs for women who have lost their hair as a result of cancer.

This program is just one example of many community outreach events that SCSU student-athletes will take part in as part of the Tim Greer Insurance Agency Community Service Cup.

Initiated in September, 2008, the ‘Community Service Cup’ program provides a competitive format that allows student-athletes to gain an enriched experience through engagement with the on-campus and local communities by supporting ventures of traditional citizens, campus community members and peer students and student-athletes. SCSU student-athletes volunteered more than 4,000 hours of their time to numerous outreach efforts, both on-campus and in Greater New Haven, during the 2013-14 academic year.

Source: http://www.southernctowls.com/news/2015/3/4/GEN_0304154820.aspx

The UC Davis men’s basketball team’s mission is to not only succeed on the court, but to give back to the community as well. As student-athletes, the Aggies feel an obligation to use their prestige as competitors to push the importance of being academically successful. They achieve this by way of the UC Davis Men’s Basketball Reading Program, an initiative where the team speaks to young students about what it takes to get into college and the importance of school for their futures. This year marks this programs third season.

“We thought it was a good way to reach back to the community,” said assistant coach and program organizer Chris Davis. “We have 31 schools involved and over 18,000 students. It’s a really good program [and] a great opportunity for us to showcase what UC Davis has to offer.”

The logistics of a collegiate team, especially one as successful as the Aggies, make it hard to dedicate much time during the actual season.

“[Instead, the Aggies], try to get to as many schools in the fall and spring as possible… [and] we invite everyone to come to the games,” said Davis.

A school that has been on board with the reading program since its inception, the Sierra Enterprise Elementary School from the Elk Grove Unified School District most recently went through the experience as part of a “Career to College” trip. A mix of fifth and sixth grade students made their way on a short trip around the UC Davis campus before they headed to the Pavilion to speak with players and watch the game against Hawai’i on Feb. 21.

“We want them excited about college,” said principal Patricia Hecht. “That’s our main purpose, to get them on campus.”

After walking past the dorms, the baseball field and eating at the Dining Commons, the students met two basketball players and three dancers an hour before the game began. These athletes gave a broad range of advice and answered questions from the rapt children, covering topics such as the academics required to get into UC Davis, whether or not it is difficult living without a television, if it was hard to meet new people and make new friends and how to manage time as a student-athlete. They gave the overall impression that although college is indeed tough, it is important for their future and is a fun new experience.

After a few minutes of questions and answers, the speakers received an enthusiastic “Thank You!” and the students were given autographed pictures and small trinkets to take home with them.

“When they visit us they talk about character traits that you need to be a great person,” said Hecht.

UC Davis players also provide a small basketball demonstration for the kids and take pictures with the younger students.

The students of the Sierra Enterprise Elementary School keep close tabs on the team and players throughout the season. From the Athletic Department they receive bios for each player, team updates, pictures and even videos from the games, and they keep the Aggies’ standings on a whiteboard in their classroom.

After seeing a game firsthand, the kids are excited to return and keep up to date on the team. They maintain high hopes for the remainder of the Aggies’ season, and hope to put UC Davis on their bracket for March Madness.

But perhaps most important are the lessons that the students learn from watching the team over an extended period of time.

“Our kids are mostly children coming up in poverty, and sometimes they lose sight of the day to day struggle,” said Hecht. “They see that hard work pays off. [As with the success of UC Davis] It doesn’t always happen the first year, and you’ve got to keep trying and trying. Now they [the Aggies] are number one, and I tell the kids ‘this is what the hard work paid off,’ and that’s good for them.”

Source: http://www.theaggie.org/2015/03/03/basketball-reading-program-spells-success-for-local-students/

On behalf of the W20 Foundation’s Project Team Up 4 Community and our generous sponsors NBTY Helping Hands, we would like to thank Smithtown Central School District’s Athletic Department for their commitment to making an impact in their community this 2014-15 School Year.

Their community service work is commendable. They have done many projects that include raising funds and awareness for Cancer Research, to feeding the hungry and homeless on Long Island. Their projects clearly demonstrate the passion they have to making a difference in the lives of others.

Recognizing that community service helps promote responsibility and character in young people, the W20 Foundation’s TeamUp4Community program has set the challenge to encourage our Long Island Youth Athletes to participate in giving back $300,000 worth of service for the 2014- 2015 School Year.

Over the next 10 months it is our goal to challenge our youth athletes, ages 6–24, to perform at least 37,500 hours of community service.

Smithtown’s community giveback contribution has been well noted on the www.TeamUp4Community.org website as an example of inspiration for others to follow.

We thank Smithtown for assisting the W20 Foundation to deliver this impactful program in and all around our Long Island Communities. We recognize athletes and organizations like theirs as our partners in achieving our goal.

Congratulations to Smithtown on receiving Third Place and a $500 Grant for their Community Service efforts in the 2014 Holiday Sports Heroes Challenge.

Smithtown has chosen to donate the $500 grant to five (5) selected Charitable Organizations.

NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Southern Connecticut State University women’s basketball team recently donated books as part of a book drive being conducted by the Owls’ women’s soccer team.

This program is just one example of many community outreach events that SCSU student-athletes will take part in during the 2014-15 academic year as part of the Tim Greer Insurance Agency Community Service Cup.

Initiated in September, 2008, the ‘Community Service Cup’ program provides a competitive format that allows student-athletes to gain an enriched experience through engagement with the on-campus and local communities by supporting ventures of traditional citizens, campus community members and peer students and student-athletes. SCSU student-athletes volunteered nearly 4,000 hours of their time to numerous outreach efforts, both on-campus and in Greater New Haven, during the 2013-14 academic year.

Source: http://www.southernctowls.com/news/2015/3/1/GEN_0301155611.aspx