Number of Participants: 41
Hours Donated: 23
Value of Time Served: $7,968
Event Amount Raised: $3,500
Event Type: Health & Medicine
Sport: Girls Volleyball
Date: April 12, 2021
Location:
Medway High School
Summer Street, Medway
MA
About:
The Medway Volleyball Teams have participated in Side-Out’s Dig Pink Movement for the past 9 years raising funds for Stage IV breast cancer research. Stage IV breast cancer is the most advanced stage of breast cancer yet the least funded area of research. The Medway Volleyball family and Medway community has been touched by cancer in far too many ways – Mothers, Aunts, Grandmothers, Sisters, Cousins, Teachers, Friends…just to name a few. This is why the teams are so passionate about carrying on the Dig Pink Movement tradition even during a pandemic. A typical Dig Pink Night in Medway would be a community wide event drawing in a packed house of hundreds of fans, we’d have raffle prizes, concessions, t-shirt selling, donation stations and more. This event would be the primary way the teams raised funds. This year due to Covid, that was not possible but the 2021 Medway Mustangs carried on their tradition in reimagined ways and ended up surpassing their fundraising goal by 143%! Most of that was in the form of Tribute Ribbons sold by each of the athletes honoring those who have fought or are still fighting cancer – a sobering reminder of why they believe in their Dig Pink tradition. Including the 2021 Wedge Season, Medway Volleyball Program has now raised over $45,000 over the past 10 years for the Side-Out Foundation Dig Pink Movement.
Side-Out Foundation Dig Pink Movement
Through youth education and empowerment, The Side-Foundation unifies the volleyball community to drive change in the way that breast cancer is treated. Side-Out’s Dig Pink® Movement raises millions of dollars that go directly to their cutting-edge clinical trial, the Side-Out Protocol, which is successfully extending the lives of people with stage IV breast cancer. Through Dig Pink® and other programs, Side-Out coaches thousands of young people in skills such as teamwork, leadership and perseverance, and gives them opportunities to live meaningful and healthy lives.
The fundraiser is primarily Varsity driven, however all 3 Medway High School Volleyball Teams participated in Dig Pink – Varsity, JV1 and JV2 for a total of 41 athletes
There were many ways the teams drove their fundraising efforts and not all had equal participation, but in total there were about 22-23 hours in activities dedicated to Dig Pink Fundraising. These activities were driven primarily by Varsity Captains Maggie Regan and Caitlin Nolan who organized the teams and delegated responsibilities
Fundraising Activities included:
- Over the course of 4 weeks, each athlete sold Tribute Ribbons to friends, family, neighbors dedicated to someone who has fought or is still fighting cancer. The Tribute Ribbons were hung around the school and in the gymnasium on Dig Pink Rally Match night to inspire the athletes and honor those who have suffered through cancer.
- Collecting donations outside local community establishments (Muffin House Café, TC Scoops) for a total of 12 hours over the course of 2 weekend.
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- 2-4 athletes would cover 1 hour shifts.
- Soliciting Donation Location establishments in and around Medway (Medway Café, Mickey Cassidy’s, Muffin House, TC Scoops, Galante’s Restaurant and the Bird & Bear Collective) where customers could drop in small donations
- Selling custom made T-shirts before school each day for 2 weeks
- Making posters and decorating hallways and gymnasiums to raise awareness of students, faculty and fans
- Folding the Medway Middle School into their fundraising efforts as it is where most of the athletes got their start in the volleyball program
