Students Play 3-on-3 Basketball To Save Lives

By: Lindsay Fetzner

Posted: 3/26/07

Members of the Delta Chi fraternity and communications 225W class collaborated on a 3-on-3 basketball tournament held Friday at the North Campus basketball courts which raised $1400 for the fraternity's Cancer Relief Fund.

The only requirement for the class project was that it benefited someone else, according to Marissa Gener, a 6th-semester communication major. She, along with other members of the group, worked with Eric Lurie, a 6th-semester human development and family studies major and president of the Delta Chi. Originally, the group wanted to do a walk-a-thon but the brothers of Delta Chi reqested a basketball tournament instead. Veronica Areias, a 6th-semester communication major and Gener worked directly with Delta Chi, while the rest of the group completed the outside tasks such as a paper to complete the project, Gener said.

The Delta Chi Cancer Relief Fund gives its proceeds directly to the Jimmy V Foundation, which was founded 14 years ago by ESPN and Jim Valvano. Valvano was a North Carolina State basketball coach and started the fund to raise money for cancer research and related programs as he battled cancer, according to the Jimmy V Foundation Web site.

The Jimmy V Foundation has raised more than $60 million and awarded cancer research grants in 37 states and the District of Columbia since 1993, according to the Web site.

"The Cancer Relief Fund has officially existed for about eight months now. This summer it was appointed as a national philanthropy endeavor by the Delta Chi national headquarters during a convention held in Cleveland," Lurie said.

This was the first philanthropy event that Delta Chi did to raise money for the Jimmy V Foundation.

"The overwhelming support has motivated our chapter to do more events like this in the future," Lurie said.

Many members of the Greek community on-campus came together to form teams to help raise money for the fund.

"We like to support other fraternities in their events. We go to their events and they go to ours," said Chris Hickey, a 2nd-semester actuarial science major and member of the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity.

Each team entered in the tournament was charged an entrance fee of $25 to play. The teams had to have a minimum of three members, with a maximum of five. Each winner of the men's and women's brackets received prizes donated by local companies including Wings Over Storrs, Dunkin Donuts and Panda Express to name a few, said Veronica Areias, a 6th-semester communication major said.

The winners of the men's bracket were Thirsty Dog and the winner's of the women's bracket were the Pi Beta Phi sorority, according to Areias.

"We encouraged everyone to come down and participate or just give a donation to help out the cause," Areias said.