March 1, 2010

Rio Grande has successful Pink Zone event

Rio Grande --- The University of Rio Grande RedStorm women's basketball program held its annual Pink Zone event, entitled Rio Grande: Hoops for Cure, January 13 versus Campbellsville as a part of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) Breast Cancer Awareness program. 

Pink T-shirts and "Think Pink" products were sold at the concession stand. All proceeds from the event were donated to the Breast Cancer Awareness Fund.

Breast Cancer is the most common invasive cancer among women in the United States, which accounts for nearly one out of every three cancers diagnosed. 

Rio Grande assistant coach Kristen Roberson, who headed up the event for Rio Grande, along with the RedStorm women's hoops team set out to reach beyond the court and out into the community and the schools to attempt to make a difference in the fight against breast cancer. 

Rio Grande: Hoops for Cure was extremely successful. "First of all, I would just like to thank everyone who participated, the community, the fans, the people who attended came out and wore pink and made donations," Roberson said. "It turned out great. We had a great show-up, the American Cancer Society showed up, they set up a table. Also, Holzer Cancer Clinic was present."

"It was a great turnout and a great evening," Roberson added. "The only thing on the downside was that we lost the game."

Roberson said that there was tremendous support and donations far exceeded past Pink Zone events for Rio Grande. "I was impressed with the donations received," she said. "This is our third year doing it, the first year we received $86 in donations, the second year we received right at $150. This year we received $1,000 in donations, which is a tremendous job."

Roberson had also set up a "Think Pink" night at Bob Evans on February 15 in which 15 percent of the proceeds went to Breast Cancer Awareness. Roberson said bad weather hampered the sales, but that Bob Evans is willing to re-schedule the special night to help raise additional funds. "I was disappointed with the Bob Evans turnout because of Mother Nature. It was actually President's Day, which was great on our part because a lot of people didn't have to go to work, but Mother Nature didn't allow things to happen."

"We only received about $80-something from Bob Evans, which is good, but they actually said that we could re-schedule it for another time," Roberson added. A re-schedule date has not been set at this point, but Roberson said that it will be re-scheduled. 

Roberson said the team is continuing to press onward in the fight against breast cancer. "What we're trying to do is not just center it toward one day," Roberson said. "We're still wearing our pink shoestrings. There was a girl in Chillicothe that was diagnosed with breast cancer, her name is anonymous, but we actually got her a care package together and each player wrote her a letter. We sent ‘Think Pink' paraphernalia to her and we're actually going to donate half the proceeds to her in her fight against breast cancer." 

Roberson said that people can still participate if they missed out initially. "If you missed out and you would like to still participate you can donate money to ‘Women's Basketball'or contact me, Kirsten Roberson or e-mail me at roberson@rio.eduand I'll make sure those proceeds get donated to the correct funds," she said. 

The WBCA Pink Zone initiative is a global, unified effort for the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's (WBCA) nation of coaches to assist in raising breast cancer awareness on the court, across campuses, in communities and beyond.

The WBCA began the WBCA Pink Zone, formerly known as "Think Pink", in 2007 as an initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in women's basketball, on campuses and in communities.