“Hoops for Hope” Honors Yow, Promotes Awareness

Today North Carolina State will host the fourth “Hoops 4 Hope” game, which helps raise money for the cancer research fund in late Coach Kay Yow’s name. The event, established by Yow to raise awareness for the disease that ultimately took her life, is sold out for the first time, bringing Yow’s long fight back to the forefront, less then three weeks after her death.

“She always looked at this as a game that would provide hope for so many cancer survivors and for so many people who are having difficulties in their lives,” said interim coach Stephanie Glance, an assistant to Yow for 15 seasons. “There’s such great energy and such great cause that it’s so uplifting.”

The first “Hope” game came against Maryland in 2006 and raised $27,000 through donations and auctions for a local chapter of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. The next year, the event raised about $44,000. Last season was the first in which the proceeds went to the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, created in December 2007. The event raised more than $42,000 last season.

During halftime of today’s game, breast cancer survivors will be invited to walk onto the court and stand together in order to give hope to those fighting the disease.

Glance said Yow’s office door will remain open the rest of the season.

“It was comforting to me,” she said. “Others [on staff] would say they don’t want to go in there because it makes them sad. But for me, I wanted to be in there, look around and take everything in.

“When everybody will feel the same way will be when we have to pack up her things and it’s no longer her office, and we’ll be very sad. Right now, it’s just like it was, but it won’t be like that much longer.”

For more information on the Pink Zone initiative, a “unified effort to raise breast cancer awareness on the court and across high school and college campuses,” Go to ESPN.com or tune in to ESPN2 Sunday at 1p.m. EST.

Love Serena Williams Style

December 23, 2008 – Lookin’ good. The former no. 1 Serena Williams did a photo shoot for this month’s celeb/style mag h monthly.  The pictures are accompanied by a conversation with Serena in which she discusses her recent travels, her new concepts in fashion and her continuing charitable endeavors.

Fab Serena just returned from Africa with news of her charitable work with B.A.S. (Build African Schools). Together they opened a secondary school named after her in the village of Matooni, about 70 miles southeast of Nairobi, Kenya, with state-of-the-art solar panels for power and computers donated from Hewlett-Packard. Her credo? ‘To whom much is given, much is required.’ Good for you, girl.  Can’t wait to see what 2009 brings (besides your memoir).

(via Tennis Served Fresh & Women’s Tennis Blog)

Ana Ivanovic launches charity gift campaign

November 24, 2008 – Lots of feel-good stories around the holiday season. From Ana Ivanovic’s website comes news that the star tennis player is launching a charity holiday campaign complete with cuddly teddy bears that can be given as gifts:

Ana is the figurehead of UNICEF’s Christmas gift campaign in Serbia. Together with basketball legend Sasha Djordevic, Ana is appearing in print advertising to promote the items, which are sold on a 100 per cent charitable basis.

“When I was a kid I used to receive UNICEF cards,” said Ana. “Now, I am sending them. It is a special pleasure to know that each UNICEF card and product, apart from making a person who receives it happy, directly helps at least one child.”

Items for sale in Serbia include teddy bears, greeting cards and toys such as the “Brio Ant”. Visitors in Serbia can buy the items by visiting the UNICEF Shop.

Funds raised through the gift campaign are used within Serbia to fund UNICEF’s priority programmes, which are aimed at promoting a rights-based approach to the survival, development and inclusion of all children from conception through adolescence.

There is a particular focus on the rights of those children who are excluded due to ethnic background, disability, poverty, violence, abuse or exploitation. Ana fronts the “School Without Violence” programme and she visited a Belgrade school earlier this month.

Ivanovic, who grew up in battered, war torn Serbia (along with Jelena Jancovic),  has an on-going relationship with the UN. Last year, she was named UNICEF National Amabassador for Serbia. In that role she uses her name and fame to advocate for child rights in Serbia, particularly in the areas of education and child protection.

Good stuff Ana.  To see who else is giving selflessly back – check our post on Random Acts of Kindness.

Serena in action

November 16, 2008 – US Open and Australian Open tennis champion  Serena Williams headed to Africa this week and visited Kenya for the first time.

Sunday Nation followed her visit and noted that activity came to a stop in the sleepy village of Matooni as the world number two ranked tennis player opened a secondary school named after her in the area on Friday. The Serena Williams Secondary School,  south-east of the Kenyan capital Nairobi, was built in record one month, and is fully equipped with a computer laboratory and Internet facilities for the students. Wonder how long it will take for these kids to discover MySpace and Facebook?

Serena, the younger of the two Williams sisters famous for their tennis prowess, is on an African tour as the global ambassador for Hewlett Packard HP, who have teamed up with Build African Schools Foundation to put up learning institutions equipped with the latest technology.

For the better part of this week, Serena has been on a similar trip in Johannesburg, South Africa, working with the Starfishgreatheart Charity for orphans infected with HIV. On her website she wrote:

“This charity helps give aid, care, and housing to kids with AIDS. These kids are mostly born with AIDS and they don’t have the care that they need or can live with. The kids I met today were orphans. It was so sad to see them in this situation. They had so much hope and love in their eyes, yet a tinge of sadness behind their pupils bringing me to tears. …”

Her foundation, which concentrates mainly on education projects for the poor, has set up another school in Senegal.

Nice to see athletes giving back. Keep up the great work girl!!

Snowboarder Lindsey Jacobellis hearts animals

October 21, 2008 - When U.S. Snowboarding’s Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton Mountain, VT) isn’t busy dominating every man woman and child that dares to challenge her snowboardcross skills, she likes to spend her time shedding light on something close to her heart – animals.

“I just absolutely love animals – all different kinds,” Jacobellis said. “We’re surrounded by animals because of growing up in the country and I really got a lot of exposure to them.”

Jacobellis’ love of animals took a shift towards trying to improve their quality of life when she started watching the cable network Animal Planet.

“Since I like animals so much, I started watching Animal Planet and just seeing the Animal Cops shows made me so angry,” Jacobellis said. “Sometimes people had the means to take care of an animal and didn’t or just neglected it. “It just made me upset, so I got information about the ASPCA online and I decided that it was the charity that I wanted to be involved with.”

While she began by making annual donations, Jacobellis has started getting more closely involved with the organization.

“I recently took a tour of their facility and am going to a fundraiser this month,” Jacobellis said. “It wasn’t as heartbreaking as I thought it was going to be. They refurbished the entire facility and made it look almost like a pet shop instead of having cold cement floors and cages. It was more inviting and the animals were great.”

As she spent time with the animals, Jacobellis took in some facts about the organization that really hit home with her.

“It was so nice to hear that they never put down an animal – it can stay there as long as it needs to and whenever they adopt an animal, they go right to the animal control in the city and fill their spots with animals from there,” Jacobellis said. “They’re constantly getting in new cats and dogs and whenever there’s room, they take as many as they can.”

Though she heads back to the slopes soon, Jacobellis has some tips for busy people like her who want to be involved in helping animals out.

“The easiest thing is to go to the Web site, but, if you live in the city, it’s a great thing to do on the weekends because you can walk dogs and spend time with the animals,” Jacobellis said. “It also fills people’s needs – if they want to have an animal but don’t have all the time for one, they can take time with them there.”

For more information on how you can help visit www.aspca.org

(via release)

Maria Sharapova and LeBron James team up

March 28, 2008 – Grand slam tennis champ and pretty tough gal Maria Sharapova has doubled up with basketball star LeBron James in an ad campaign to promote global anti-poverty programs.

Sharapova, a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Goodwill Ambassador, and James partner against poverty in a new UNDP advertisement to garner support for achieving the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Photographer Patrick Demarchelier photographed both stars.

Sharapova’s work with UNDP includes supporting international efforts by promoting the organization’s goals in interviews, media appearances and within the world of women’s sports.  Her work with the UNDP will also focus on Chernobyl’s recovery and development efforts. She has made a financial contribution to eight youth-oriented projects in rural communities in Belarus, the Russian Federation and Ukraine and she will soon visit the region.

Way to play your advantage Maria!

Random Acts of Kindness

Show Me The Charity: Every day we’re taught that to give is better than  to receive and to treat others how we wish to be treated. To that end, athletes and sports organizations have long stepped up to the plate and been involved in some great charitable work.

From relief efforts for victims of the California fires, Katrina and the Indian Ocean tsunami to raising money for healthcare, medical research and at-risk youth, companies and individuals involved in the action sports industry, professional leagues  and Olympic sports have been at the forefront.

Read more