CALGARY, Alta. - The CIS Women's Basketball Coaches Association
proudly announced Monday the organization had raised $98,706.92 for
the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation in 2011-12 thanks to the
fifth edition of its annual Shoot For The Cure initiative.
The impressive amount was unveiled prior to the gold medal final
of the CIS championship at the University of Calgary's Jack Simpson
Gymnasium.
Scott Edwards, vice-president of the WBCA and head coach at the
University of Alberta, and Lindsay Druery, a student athlete from
Lakehead University and the recipient of the 2012 Sylvia Sweeney
Award, presented a cheque to Chelsea Draeger, manager of community
partnerships for the CBCF, Prairies and NWT Region.
An additional $22,541.78 was amassed by schools that elected to
donate their fundraised money to local or provincial organizations
- including $7154.44 to the Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation -
bringing this season's Shoot For The Cure overall total to
$121,248.70, and the five-year total to over half a million
dollars.
The initiative was launched in 2007-08 to raise awareness and
money to fight the deadly disease and in five years, CIS women's
basketball programs have now collected $512,394.58.
This season, for the first time, all 43 universities that field
women's hoops teams participated by holding one or numerous
fundraising games or activities over the course of the
campaign.
The University of Waterloo Warriors and the school's athletics
department continued to lead the way by raising $25,000. Cape
Breton University and the University of New Brunswick also had very
successful events, amassing just over $10,000 and $9,500,
respectively.
"In addition to doing our best to raise money and awareness to
fight this terrible disease, we had two other goals in mind this
year," said Jeff Speedy, president of the WBCA, Shoot For The Cure
project manager and head coach at UNB. "We wanted to have all of
our teams participate, and raise enough money to get us over the
half a million mark for the five years of this initiative. I am
thrilled that we have accomplished those two goals!
"Our coaches, student athletes, athletic directors and sports
information directors have really bought into Shoot For The Cure
and are really making a positive difference in so many ways."
For more information on the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation or
to make a donation, visit: http://www.cbcf.org/
Source: CIS Communications