ATCHISON, Kan. - The Benedictine College women's basketball and baseball programs teamed up on Feb. 13 to raise money for the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

Through gate receipts, free-will donations and T-shirt sales, the two programs raised $1,400 towards helping find a cure for breast cancer.

The baseball team raised funds by selling pink Raven t-shirts, which the women's basketball team (pictured below) also wore during the week during pregame.
    
The gate receipts and free-will donations were taken from the women's and men's basketball games played against Evangel University on Feb. 13.

"I am so tremendously proud of this contribution and how everyone made an effort to make this happen," said Benedictine Athletic Director Charlie Gartenmayer. "Everyone involved has been effected by this disease in some fashion or another."

The fund-raiser was held in conjunction with the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) "Think Pink" initiative.

"Breast Cancer has touched many of our families," said Lady Raven head basketball coach Chad Folsom. "We're very proud as a women's basketball program that we and some of our other athletic programs were able to raise this amount of money for the cause in order to help find a cure for Breast Cancer."

The WBCA began the WBCA Pink Zone®, formerly known as "Think Pink", in 2007 as an initiative to raise breast cancer awareness in women's basketball, on campuses and in communities. Kay Yow, former North Carolina State University head women's basketball coach, served as the catalyst for the initiative after her third reoccurrence of breast cancer in 2006.

To date, the total amount of 2010 WBCA Pink Zone® donations has reached $150,759.12.  

In 2007, more than 120 schools unified for this effort and helped make the inaugural year a success. In 2008, over 1,200 teams and organizations participated, reaching over 830,000 fans and raising over $930,000 for breast cancer awareness and research. The 2009 campaign raised over $1.3 million, reached over 912,000 fans, unified more than 1,600 participating teams and organizations, and saw 56+ schools break attendance records at their event.

"We are thankful to Coach Folsom and the Lady Ravens for allowing us to partner with them," said head baseball coach Doc Beeman. "I know that they have been involved with this cause for years and it was nice to be part of their efforts this year."