Student Athlete Leads an Entire Community to Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer and Support Local Children Battling Cancer

CHERRY HILL, NJ–(Marketwired – September 19, 2014) – In Akron, OH, Hoban High School Junior, Kameryn Zingale, started a movement in her community to join Go4theGoal Foundation’s Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer® campaign in partnership with Akron Children’s Hospital. The

funds raised will benefit Showers Family Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders in order to support pediatric oncology patients and their families during their battle with childhood cancer.

Kameryn spent her summer volunteering at Akron Children’s and when she heard about the Lace Up initiative and realized that she could continue making a difference in the lives of the children she volunteered with. Through the joint efforts of Kameryn, Akron Children’s Hospital, and

Go4theGoal Foundation, in just 3 weeks over 4,000 athletes in the Akron area have Laced Up!

“I really hope this catches on to all Fall athletes,” said Kameryn, “And even though Childhood Cancer Awareness Month is September, there is no reason why winter and spring athletes could not join in as well.” For only $5.00 a pair, athletes can Lace Up in Go4theGoal’s Gold laces

and raise awareness and funds for children being treated for cancer at Akron Children’s Hospital.

“The goal of Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer® has always been to give communities a way to give back and show their support for children with cancer in their backyard. Through our joint efforts with Akron Children’s Hospital, this goal has never been so clearly achieved,” stated Nate

Mulberg, Go4theGoal’s Athletic Coordinator. “It is our hope that other hospitals will follow Akron’s lead and work with Go4theGoal to get their communities proactive in the fight against pediatric cancer!”

About Go4theGoal Foundation:
Go4theGoal Foundation is a 501 (c) 3 non-profit charitable organization founded in 2006 by Dr. Richard and Beth Stefanacci, soon after their oldest child was diagnosed with Ewing’s Sarcoma, a rare form of bone cancer. 2012 and 2013 were very exciting years at Go4theGoal Foundation, whose two national campaigns, National Dress 4 Pediatric Cancer Day® and Lace Up 4 Pediatric Cancer®, gave hundreds of schools, businesses and sports teams an opportunity to raise awareness and much needed support for patients in their communities and earned Go4theGoal the honor of “Top Rated Non-Profit of 2012, 2013, & 2014” by Great Nonprofits. Go4theGoal provides children undergoing cancer treatment and their families with financial assistance, runs fun hospital-based programs, grants special wishes and supplies state-of-the-art electronic products to children and pediatric oncology units in over 80 hospitals across the country. Since 2007, G4G has funded nearly $1,000,000.00 in innovative pediatric cancer research. Go4theGoal.org

SHIRLEY, N.Y.- The Make-A-Wish Suffolk County Chapter partnered with the Dowling College Athletics Program in hosting the 2nd Annual Walk For Wishes 5K this afternoon at Dowling’s Brookhaven Campus.

Over 200 student-athletes and staff participated in the event which had over 300 runners.

“It’s a special day here at Golden Lions Field. This is an event where our entire Dowling Athletics Department comes together for a great cause,” said Student Athlete Advisory Committee President and baseball player Vinny Orlando.

Prior to the race, Make-A-Wish Suffolk Chapter President and CEO Karine Hollander granted Kellyanne Crovello, a 10 year old girl from East Setauket, N.Y., her wish to go to Hawaii.

“Today we had the opportunity to actually grant a child their wish,” said Student Government Association President and softball player Crystal Targano. “This is the second year we have had the opportunity to be a part of such a great cause. Seeing the faces of all the wish kids is amazing.”

“We pride ourselves in preparing our student-athletes for success in academics, athletics, within the community and in life. This is an event where our student-athletes can see firsthand the results of their efforts. Seeing the emotions of a child being granted their wish is priceless,” said head women’s soccer and lacrosse coach Kerri McCabe.

Continuing its longstanding commitment to philanthropy, in 2003 the NCAA Division II established a national alliance with Make-A-Wish, a global charity that grants wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. It is the largest wish-granting charity in the world, with 62 chapters throughout the United States and its territories. Since it’s inception, the Suffolfk Chapter has granted over 2,400 wishes to local wishes with over 120 wishes this year alone.

Queens, N.Y. – The Queens College men’s basketball team took time out of their schedule recently to participate in a meal delivery day with the Citymeals-on-Wheels program. They bagged up donated food into meals and delivered them to homebound elderly people in the area.

Citymeals-on-Wheels is one of the largest food delivery services in the city, providing two million meals to 18,000 hungry New Yorkers annually.

Members of the team sorted through donated food, made bagged meals, and joined other volunteers to deliver the meals and chat with local elderly people.

Jeremiah Mordi reflected on the event, “Providing food for the elderly really teaches perspective. Sometimes you take something as simple as food for granted, but it’s important to understand that there are people struggling out there. It’s gratifying to help.”

Provided by the Queens Sports Information Department.

Sparkill, N.Y. – The St. Thomas Aquinas student-athletes participated in the school’s annual SIDS walk on their campus on Sunday, September 21st. The athletes gathered donations and participated in a two mile walk around the STAC campus acknowledging the severity of the cause and the need for additional research. All proceeds from the walk will be donated to the CJ Foundation for SIDS.

The CJ Foundation for SIDS is a national charitable organization dedicated to recognizing the special needs of the SIDS community through funding SIDS research, support services and public awareness programs. The Foundation hopes to increase public awareness of SIDS and to contribute to a future in which no parent is faced with the tragedy of losing a loved one to SIDS.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) is one of the leading causes of death among infants one month through one year of age in the United States. The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) defines SIDS as the sudden death of an infant under one year of age which remains unexplained after a thorough case investigation, including performance of a complete autopsy, examination of the death scene and review of the clinical history. SIDS is therefore a diagnosis of exclusion, affixed only once all known and possible causes of death have been ruled out. SIDS claims the lives of almost 2,500 infants in the US each year. That’s nearly 7 babies every day. SIDS deaths occur unexpectedly and quickly to apparently healthy infants, usually during periods of sleep. It is not caused by suffocation, choking, or smothering. SIDS cannot be predicted or prevented and can claim any baby, in spite of parents doing everything right.

The Student Government Association has worked with STAC President, Dr. Margaret Fitzpatrick to make the SIDS Walk an annual campus event. This year’s walk saw an outpouring of compassion among the athletes along with their fellow students and supporters.

For more information on SIDS or to join the battle make a donation, please visit the CJ Foundation for SIDS at http://www.cjsids.com.

Provided by the St. Thomas Aquinas Sports Information Department.

A contingent of Oregon students affiliated with the school’s American Sign Language (ASL) club and student-athletes with the school’s O Heroes program gathered at Pape´ Field on Tuesday to hangout and play sports with local kids in the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community. Students from the Oregon School for the Deaf and kids from the 4J school district came to the ASL event.

“We put a lot of smiles on everyone’s faces and it was really rewarding for us to come out here and to get an impact on the kids,” Oregon defensive lineman TJ Daniel said.

Representatives from the football, women’s basketball, men and women’s track and field, acrobatics and tumbling, volleyball, softball, women’s soccer women’s lacrosse and the cheerleader team shared laughs and smiles with the kids. Members from the American sign language club were also on hand for the event.

The event opened up with a cheer from the Oregon cheerleading squad. The cheerleaders were only slotted to stay at the field for thirty minutes, but after seeing the kids for the first time, three cheerleaders decided to stay and join the experience.

“We wanted to stay a little longer because they were disappointed when we left,” Oregon cheerleader Maggie Rouse said. “They make our day and we want to make their day too.”

The cheerleaders aren’t normally involved with the O Heroes program. So when Rouse, and fellow cheerleaders Julianna Sick and Caroline Issac, got the opportunity to be a part of the event, they jumped at it.

“It’s so incredible for us because we don’t get to do a lot of O Heroes stuff so when we get invited we get really excited,” Rouse said. “It’s so rewarding for us to be able to teach them some things that we know.”

One of the most experienced student-athletes in ASL is women’s basketball forward Jillian Alleyne. Growing up Alleyne’s mother had a co-worker that was Deaf. Alleyne would watch the woman use her nine-year old son as a translator and it inspired her.

“I thought it was the coolest thing,” Alleyne said. “When I went to my first high school they had it, so I was like ‘I’m taking it’ and I’ve been taking it for five years now.”

Today’s event was not only a chance for Alleyne to hangout with kids — something she loves to do whenever possible — but to see the way people in the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community interact.

“What I love about this event is how the Deaf kids are so vivid in what they do,” Aleyne said. “You can’t see what they’re signing but you can see through their face and their facial expressions.”

Oregon football safety Juwaan Williams does not practice ASL, but he decided he wanted to help out with the kids anyways. What he didn’t envision was wearing a chest protector, a goalie mask and standing in between a lacrosse goal. The kids took their turns running through cones before loading and firing a shot at Williams in between the net.

Jonathan Sierra, a football player at the Oregon school for the Deaf, dropped the ball out of his stick twice. Each time, Sierra would pick up the ball and jog to the back of the line. On his third attempt, Sierra fired the ball off of Williams and into the back of the net. Sierra, a major fan of Oregon quarterback Marcus Mariota, enjoyed his first experience with lacrosse.

“This is the first time playing lacrosse and I had no experience with it at all,” Sierra said through a translator. “It was great to see.”

Williams saved the first six attempts from the kids before giving up the goal to Sierra. After, he thought extremely highly of Sierra’s lacrosse ability.

“He needs a scholarship to Johns Hopkins right now,” Williams said jokingly. “That kid is a scorer.”

At the end of the day, it became blatantly obvious that the student-athletes benefited form the day just as much as the visiting kids.

“Giving back to the community, whenever we can, is a great opportunity for us,” Williams said. “It’s like you’re a kid again. They don’t look at you as an adult. You’re just a regular kid to them living the dream.”

Follow Joseph Hoyt on Twitter @JoeJHoyt

Source: http://dailyemerald.com/2014/09/23/o-heroes-student-athletes-come-together-for-asl-event/