Bucknell University Heeds the Call in NFHCA’s Play4The Cure Initiative

Who do you play for? – A question that rings throughout the collegiate and scholastic sporting landscape during the month of October each year.

It may be your teammate, a relative, teacher, coach, or friend. Whomever it may be for you, we all know someone who has been impacted by breast cancer.

According to BreastCancer.org, 12.5% of all new annual cancer cases worldwide are diagnosed as breast cancer, making it the most common cancer in the world. In an effort to raise awareness and shed light, the NFHCA partners with the National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) and Play4theCure to inspire field hockey programs – at all levels – across the country to raise funds for research in hopes that one day there may be a cure.

Bucknell University Rises to the Challenge

Of the nearly $80,000 raised this year – to date – The Bucknell University Field Hockey team alone has accounted for more than $31,000 of that total. The Bison, which hosted its Play4TheCure game vs. Miami of Ohio on October 15, leveraged some of its own in-house celebrity to boost fundraising for cause.

According to Bucknell assistant coach, Alexandra Pennington, Shereen Pavlides – the host of Cooking with Shereen – and mother of Bison forward Isabella Pavlides, approached the team back in September with the idea of a giveaway through her social media. Though the help of some generous sponsors, Shereen put together a significant prize package and offered that any donation through her NFCR/Play4TheCure fundraising page would be entered into a drawing for the giveaway. Once the campaign debuted, the team watched as the support came pouring in, Pennington said.

“It was touching to see the comments left by the donors and how cancer had touched their lives in so many ways,” she said.

“I’m grateful to have a large platform to bring attention to this important cause,” Shereen added. “My followers shared their personal stories with me and were so thankful that I was raising awareness for cancer research.”

The support that poured in from the giveaway helped inspire the team to keep fundraising through their respective platforms as well.

“All-in-all, our Play4TheCure campaign was a huge success and we couldn’t be more excited as a program to raise money for such a worthy cause,” Pennington said.

Thank you.

We wanted to thank the countless others – both teams and individuals – for their fundraising efforts on behalf of this cause, including those that dedicated games to create awareness.

Saying ‘thank you’ doesn’t often seem enough, but we are immensely grateful for all of your efforts

What is Play4TheCure?

Play4TheCure is the sport fundraising program for the National Foundation for Cancer Research which provides funding worldwide to the best scientists to enable cutting edge research that other large cancer organizations can’t and won’t fund. Play4TheCure inspires athletes and their teams to leverage their passion for sports to “Play4” loved ones affected by cancer and encourages them to actively participate in working to fund cancer research to make a difference.

The National Foundation for Cancer Research (NFCR) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that provides scientists in the lab the funding they need to make game-changing discoveries in cancer treatments, detection, prevention, and ultimately, a cure. NFCR has distinguished itself in the cancer research sector by emphasizing long-term, transformative research often overlooked by other major funding sources. With the help of more than 5.3 million individual donors over the last 50 years, NFCR has provided $410 million in funding to cancer research, prevention, and public education leading to some of the important, life-saving discoveries that benefit patients today.

Learn more about NFCR and Play4TheCure at https://www.nfcr.org/play4thecure-2/

The National Field Hockey Coaches Association (NFHCA) is a nonprofit organization serving field hockey coaches and supporters of the game from across the United States. The mission of the organization is to stimulate the professional development of coaching leadership within the sport of field hockey. The NFHCA strives to cultivate and recognize the professional contributions of its membership and to foster and promote the growth of the sport. The NFHCA is responsible for providing a recognizable presence and voice in regard to legislation affecting the sport as well as interscholastic and intercollegiate programs.