This year the Sacred Heart and Notre Dame basketball teams fundraised and participated in two exciting charity games, from which all of the profits benefited a non-profit organization; The Cancer Couch Foundation. The spirit and participation from both student bodies in buying tickets as well as t-shirts was overwhelming, and the games were sold out. It is the supportive and energetic spirit of the students and staff at SHA and ND which resulted in such high numbers (in money donated, crowds, and points scored)!

I spoke with Emily Carchia, a senior who runs Shark club (Sacred Heart’s sports-related spirit club) to learn more about the games and why this was a big deal for not only the players but also their friends and teachers cheering them on in the bleachers.

When asked to recap the event, Carchia stated “The charity basketball game was to collect money for Cancer Couch, a non-profit for people with metastatic breast cancer. We raised around 1000 dollars, and sold about 900 shirts between us and ND. Every dollar we raised was matched by an anonymous donor, so we ended up donating twice the amount already collected through the games. Sacred Heart won against Branford and ND won against Sheehan. They were successful games… I’m proud of our schools and it’s always fun to mix competition with a good cause.”

The pride in our clubs and teams was clear through Carchia’s response. Upon further research into The Cancer Couch Foundation, it seems that all of proceeds go to funding MBC (Metastatic breast cancer) research at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. This generous and passionate foundation was started by Rebecca Timlin-Scalera, who firmly believes funding research for MBC is imperative in finding a cure, which is why the organization matches every dollar (to double all proceeds). SHA and ND are honored to contribute to such a dedicated foundation.

When finishing off our discussion, Carchia wanted to add a statement about the emotional impact that the games had on her: “I really loved to see how our two schools can come together, to mix competition and community for a good cause. Though we were playing to win basketball games, we had already won through the money collected. Thank you for everyone’s help and involvement.”

Along with Career Day, these charity basketball games were a new event this year, and both were received mostly positively by the students of Sacred Heart. Tradition is important, and we have many established already, but the student responses to these basketball games are a clear indication that making this a tradition would be a great idea and provide an annual contribution to a great organization.