On a rainy Friday afternoon, while some students might have chosen to go home to their beds, some students instead played dodgeball.
Relay for Life, in partnership with the club baseball team, hosted Doge for a Cause — a fundraiser for cancer research and suicide prevention with proceeds going to the American Cancer Society and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.
Sophomores Margaret Hughes and Kamaria Majors are part of Relay for Life and were selling luminaries at the event to help fundraising. Majors thinks it’s important to have events like this to let students know of service opportunities on campus.
“I think it’s important because a lot of times college students don’t realize they can get involved in philanthropy early on. A lot of time people just think about it as something that adults do, but as we have events like this on campus, you can get involved and give back early on,” Majors said.
Students play dodgeball to support suicide prevention and cancer cure research.
But Majors also has a special interest in finding a cure for cancer.
“My mom had cancer three times when I was growing up. She passed away a little over four and a half years ago, so it’s something that is really close to my heart, and being able to be involved and give back means that I can help other people," Majors said. "Maybe they don’t have to go through the same things that I’ve been through."
Hughes on the other hand recognized that it’s important to have events like these because of how connected everyone is through both problems.
“Millions of people are diagnosed with cancer," Hughs said. "I think that if you go up to anyone on the street and ask, ‘Do you know someone that has cancer?’ They are going to say yes, which I think kinds of shows that it really does tie everyone together.”
And while Relay for Life is pushing for a cure, club baseball is searching for a solution. After their teammate Breslin Wiley committed suicide last October, the team has made it their mission not only to play baseball but also to honor his memory. Senior and coach Hunter Swanson says that Breslin’s death brought the team closer together.
“We look out for each other we are a family now. In the past, there might be times were you were a club baseball team, but now we are a club baseball family,” Swanson said.
What stuck out to Swanson was making sure everyone at the event knew that they were not alone.
”Mental health has been on the up and everyone wants to make sure either A, if you have a problem you’re dealing with it and getting the help you need, and B, that you know you are always going to be supported by people,” Swanson said.
To raise money, Relay for Life was sold luminaries and T-shirts, Club Baseball sold over 175 T-shirts, and registration for the event was $40 per team.