Baseball Partners With Vs. Cancer Foundation
4/20/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Follow: @MiamiOHBaseball | @MiamiRedHawks
OXFORD, Ohio – The Miami University baseball team is partnering with the Vs. Cancer Foundation for the 2015 season. As a team, they are raising money and hoping to spread awareness to help fight pediatric cancer. The fundraiser will last throughout the season, but the teams will celebrate their efforts on Sunday, April 26 when the players will all shave their heads following the game against Kent State with the help of local salon, Luna Blu salon/spa/galleria.
“We are excited to get on board with Versus Cancer because we want to raise awareness and help raise money for people affected by cancer,” said sophomore pitcher Jacob Banks. “We know we are blessed to be where we are, and we are always excited give back in any way we can.”
“Working with Versus Cancer is important to our team and to me specifically, because being from Cincinnati, and having Cincinnati Children's Hospital so close, I appreciate the necessity for awareness and funding for cancer research,” said senior pitcher Ryan Haynes. “Being in the position we are as college baseball players, we have the capability to spread awareness across our campus through family, friends, and classmates. We as a team are particularly enthusiastic to be involved with Versus Cancer because it allows us to appreciate how privileged we are as individuals and how essential it is to give back to those most in need.”
The team has a goal of $5,000 and is already halfway to that goal in the first few weeks of the fundraiser. Fifty percent of the money raised will fund national cancer research efforts while the other half will go to Luna Cares, a local organization in Oxford that directly supports the financial needs of families undergoing treatment for cancer. Luna Cares works with local physicians and hospitals to relieve the financial burden of medical expenses.
Chase Jones, founder and CEO of the Vs. Cancer Foundation was treated for a stage IV brain tumor as a college freshman and baseball player at UNC Chapel Hill. The support of his teammates during treatment is what motivated him to start the Vs. Cancer Foundation.
‘‘The energy, the passion, and the commitment to help others all came together with the guys at Miami,” said Jones. “The scariest thing I went through during treatment was sitting next to young kids as they went through the same thing I was. Having personally been on the receiving end of these funds, I can attest to what these guys made happen: helping the next child, in Ohio, beat cancer.’’
Vs. Cancer has worked with hundreds of athletes, teams and communities nationwide to fund the comprehensive spectrum of the pediatric cancer battle, from research initiatives across the country to healing programs within local children's hospitals.
