By GIRISH SWAMINATH
ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
The volleyball team hosted a tournament to fund breast cancer research. (Photo courtesy of Emily Atwood)
In today’s society, around one in 110 children suffer from an autism spectrum disorder according to the Center for Disease Control. At the same time, according to breastcancer.org, one in eight women will develop a form of invasive breast cancer at some point in their lives. Two student-run charity organizations at Fordham, Autism Speaks U — Fordham Univ. and the Fordham University Volleyball Team, are helping to combat these large scale issues.
Both groups hosted large-scale charity events on campus on Oct. 23. Autism Speaks U — Fordham Univ. hosted an eat-up at Pugsley’s Pizza, which approximately 75 individuals attended. The entrance fee was $7 and participants could eat any desired quantity of pizza, pasta, salad and garlic bread.
Many students enjoyed attending the event and supporting the club’s efforts to promote awareness about the cause.
“The food was great and the place was pretty crowded,” Emily Horihan, FCRH ’14, said. “Autism Speaks U — Fordham Univ. has definitely grown quickly on campus and it’s great to see students support such a great cause.”
Members of Autism Speaks U — Fordham Univ. were satisfied with the support the club received and people’s reactions to the eat-up.
“The participants of the event seemed to enjoy themselves,” Farrah Saleh, FCRH ‘14, marketing chair of Autism Speaks U — Fordham Univ., said. “They enjoyed the food, and recognized that the proceeds were supporting such a great cause. We had several general members attend the event, and they were eager to help us.”
Both executive board and general members of Autism Speaks U — Fordham Univ. contributed toward organizing the eat-up. Pugsley’s Pizza also helped promote the event by designing a flyer and attaching a copy of it to every pizza delivery box for a week prior to the event.
“[The club] would like to thank everyone who came to the event and supported our cause,” Saleh said. “As a new club on campus, we sometimes struggle to get a large turnout at our events. This was our first time doing an eat-up at Pugsley’s, and we are happy that we were able to hold this event and raise awareness for autism within the Fordham community. We would also like to thank Sal from Pugsley’s Pizza for making a very charitable donation to the cause, for which our club is very grateful.”
The club will donate funds received from the Pugsley’s Pizza eat-up event toward autism research and advocacy.
“Currently, there is a lot about autism that remains unknown,” Saleh said. “We are hoping that the money raised during our events can help the search for answers and bring awareness to individuals with Autism and their families.”
On the same day, the Fordham Volleyball team hosted its annual student tournament and planned events for the student population to play and win prizes to help raise money for the Side-Out Foundation.
According to Michele Keathley, FCRH ’14, the Side-Out Foundation, a support and advocacy foundation, was founded in 2004 specifically by volleyball programs. The organization was established to bring volleyball players across the nation together under the common goal of furthering breast cancer awareness, research, medical services and patient support. Their proceeds go toward supporting clinical trials, increasing patient support services and educating communities on breast cancer.
The Fordham volleyball team issued a statement indicating its support for the Side-Out Foundation.
“[The Fordham volleyball team] chose to support the Side-Out Foundation, which was named ‘Side-Out’ because it represents the regaining of the serve and control of the play, and the foundation wanted to do the same for breast cancer patients,” the team said. “Breast cancer is a very predominant disease today and we all know someone who has been impacted. We chose to host the tournament and raise money for the Side-Out Foundation so that we can do our part to raise awareness and help find a cure for today’s victims and future generations.”
10 teams consisting of students, athletes and staff played in the tournament, which was held after the annual Dig Pink volleyball match. The response toward the event was extremely positive.
“I think everyone really enjoyed the tournament. It was a great night with a lot of excitement and good-natured, competitive fun and costumes,” Maria Rodenberg, FCRH ’14, said. “Our team really enjoys working this tournament because we get to share something we love and spend so much time and effort in with our peers. We had an incredible time, and it was great to have the support of our fellow students in joining the fight against breast cancer.”
