Students from the University of New Hampshire raised $3000 for local charity organizations at a Wiffle ball tournament held at the Whittemore Center last Saturday morning.
The tournament was organized by students in the Thompson School's Community Service and Leadership (CSL) program. Jake Alibrandi, a senior at the Thompson School, said the fundraiser was a semester long project for both first and second year CSL students.
Each team paid a $200 entrance fee and according to Jessi Barnes, a Thompson School senior in the CSL program, many teams were sponsored by local area businesses. The group had a fundraising goal of $5000 or 24 teams.
The $3000 raised will be divided equally between two local organizations: the HUB Family Resource Center and On Belay, an adventure program for children whose loved ones have been diagnosed with cancer.
The HUB Family Resource Center is based in Dover and according to its mission statement, "provides families with educational programs and support services which enhance their ability to raise healthy children in caring homes." Most of the programs provided are free and are open to all parents or guardians.
On Belay was founded by Crescentia True, Associate Director of the Office of Sustainability Programs at UNH, who is currently battling breast cancer.
On Belay ran its first program in June of 2004. True describes On Belay as an action adventure program based out of UNH's Browne Center. True says the program's philosophy is that of a "challenge by choice" approach for the participants climbing the Browne Center's ropes course that lie high in the trees.
True said she created the program originally to help her children deal with the effects of her cancer, "There were not a lot of programs for kids whose parents have cancer. The programs mostly dealt with grief and bereavement and we weren't there."
According to True, "On Belay" is a climbing term meaning to secure or hold fast. According to its mission statement, On Belay seeks to "create a sense of community where each participant learns what it means to be 'on belay' for themselves and those around them."
True says On Belay was created for the "forgotten demographic," the kids in a family affected by cancer but who are not sick themselves.
"[The kids] often feel scared and isolated," True said, and On Belay gives them a place to come together "and never have to say a word about cancer. They are all facing the same situation and they don't feel alone anymore." True also said that the participants in On Belay are encouraged to bring their friends to the activities and can participate in more than one program. "It's not a one shot deal," True said.
True describes her current health status as good. She has undergone one round of chemotherapy and two rounds of radiation in her battle against breast cancer and she is set to start a new clinical trial of an oral chemotherapy treatment. True says that "cancer will be with me forever and my doctors and I are being aggressive with my treatment."
UNH's Mills Dorm serves as the service partner to On Belay.
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