WEBSTER GROVES – Webster University will once again participate in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's annual Coaches vs. Cancer fundraising event at this Wednesday's home basketball doubleheader against Greenville University in Grant Gymnasium. The women's game will begin at 5:30 p.m., with the men's game to follow at 7:30 p.m.
The annual SLIAC Student-Athlete Advisory Council (SAAC) Challenge began last week with campus SAAC groups holding various fundraisers during their home basketball games. The SLIAC is a partner with Coaches vs. Cancer and member schools will join in the nation-wide event over before the end of the month of January to raise funds for the Hope Lodge.
For the third consecutive year, the league's schools will donate all the proceeds they raise from their home basketball events to the Hope Lodge. The Hope Lodge is an arm of the American Cancer Society that hosts patients of cancer and their families from out of town. St. Louis' Hope Lodge is located at 4251 Lindell Blvd.
At Webster's home basketball doubleheader on Wednesday's with Greenville, all fans will be encouraged to donate a $1 per person for entry to the games at Grant Gymnasium. The $1 charge is not mandatory, but will be suggested to every fan that wishes to attend the contest. Along with that, there will be donation cards available that will be hung to honor and remembered those impacted by cancer on a Wall of Hope. The Wall of Hope will be located to left of the concession stand in the hallway outside of Grant Gymnasium inside the University Center.
All the proceeds raised by Webster University and the other league schools participating this year during this Coaches vs. Cancer fundraising event will go to help the Hope Center in their renovation of their St. Louis area facility.
The American Cancer Society Hope Lodge (
https://www.cancer.org) program provides a free home away from home for cancer patients and their caregivers. More than just a roof over their heads, it's a nurturing community that helps patients access the care they need. Each Hope Lodge community offers a supportive, homelike environment where guests can share a meal, join in the evening's activities, or unwind in their own private room. Patients staying at a Hope Lodge must be in active cancer treatment, and permanently reside more than 40 miles or one hour away from their cancer treatment center. Each patient must be accompanied by a caregiver.
Established in 1970, the Charleston, S.C. Hope Lodge was the first facility of its kind in the country for cancer patients and caregivers. The concept came from Margot Freudenberg, a leader in the Charleston medical and business communities, who saw a similar facility while traveling through Australia and New Zealand with President Dwight Eisenhower's People to People Ambassador Program. After her own family was touched by cancer, Freudenberg was determined to establish the very first Hope Lodge community in Charleston. Now a nationwide program of the American Cancer Society, over 30 Hope Lodge facilities in the United States and Puerto Rico serve patients and caregivers from all over the world.
The SLIAC was the first conference in any NCAA division to partner league-wide with the American Cancer Society and dedicate all proceeds to the foundation. For more information and to join coaches and the SLIAC in the fight against cancer, visit
coachesvscancer.org/suitsandsneakers.
Coaches vs. Cancer, founded in 1993, is a nationwide collaboration between the American Cancer Society and the National Association of Basketball Coaches. The Coaches vs. Cancer - Suits and Sneakers campaign encourages coaches and their staff to wear sneakers with their suits during games to raise awareness of the fight against cancer and demonstrate their support for the American Cancer Society and its mission to eliminate cancer as a major health problem. The initiative aims to increase cancer awareness, highlights the importance of nutrition and physical activity in reducing a person's cancer risk, and promotes the American Cancer Society's free programs and services available to those facing cancer. Since 1993, coaches have raised more than $100 million for the American Cancer Society and the fight against cancer.
