DePaul Volleyball Team Looking to 'Dig Up' Donations

The DePaul Catholic girls’ volleyball team is raising money for breast cancer research through its Dig Pink initiative.

The team has hosted a special game for three years in October to raise money for breast cancer research. Funds are donated to the Side-Out Foundation, a non-profit organization that uses volleyball to educate others about breast cancer. October is National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The game will be Oct. 21 at 3:30 p.m. against Montville. The team will wear special T-shirts during the game that say “Dig Pink” on them. The team is dedicating the game to Sandra Mitch. Mitch was a former teacher at DePaul who died of breast cancer last year.

“You never heard her complain,” said senior player Samantha DuBois said. “She worked right through her chemotherapy treatments. She was so strong through the entire ordeal, we never even knew she was sick until right before she died. It as a big shock to everyone."

DuBois’s mother was also diagnosed with the disease early on and was cured.

“It wasn’t something that we were going to let win,” DuBois said. “We just came together as a family and said ‘okay, we need to beat this thing.’”

The team raised $3,000 at least year’s event. The team wants to raise $3,500 this year. The team will accept donations from attendees and sell T-shirts, pink baked goods, towels, ribbons, and other items at the game.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breast cancer is the most common form of cancer in women in the United States besides non-melanoma skin cancer. Nearly 203,000 women died from breast cancer in 2007; more than 40,000 died from the disease that year.

“Breast cancer is something that can affect all women and that’s why events like these are so important,” Coach Coleen Henry said. “They're not just about empowering people to get well after they’ve been diagnosed, it’s about finding ways we can prevent more people from getting breast cancer.”

The team is also asking other student athletes to wear something pink while they compete from Oct. 20 to 24. Students and faculty members are also encouraged to wear something pink to Oct. 20.

Other schools have donated to DePaul’s initiative in previous years. donated $800 last year.

“When you first find out about someone close to you it is a shock, but as time goes along you do get more positive about it,” DuBois said. “It is just another opponent we’ve got to defeat.”

Editor's note: For more information about the event or how to help, contact Coach Coleen Henry at henryc@dpchs.org.