TORONTO — Volleyball fans know that serving is an important part of each game, but the Toronto High School volleyball team has also made serving others a key part of each season.
Ten years ago, the team began raising money to support patients at Trinity Health System’s Telamana Cancer Center, and the effort raised more than $10,000.
On Wednesday, senior members of the team won a portion of their admission ticket to the Red Knights’ game against Buckeye Local, as well as gift baskets and other prizes to be held this season as part of Servin’ Up a Cure. We gave away $1,605 raised through various raffles for the bake sale. motion.
Paul Wheeler, Trinity’s vice president of operations, asked senior members of the resident team to present the donation. “We really appreciate this. We know they do a lot of charity work that they can support. On behalf of our patients, we would like to say a big thank you.”
Mr. Wheeler was accompanied by Catherine Poldniak, director of the Trinity Foundation. and Marcia Lewis, oncology advocate at Telamana Cancer Center.
They said the money will go to the Trinity Emergency Assistance Relief Fund, which will provide financially challenged patients receiving treatment at the center with assistance ranging from free transportation to assistance with utility bills.
Kari Wagner, a teacher at Toronto Elementary School, said she was a senior member of the volleyball team when it started raising money for the cancer center.
She said members knew people who had battled cancer and had heard about other schools raising money for the cancer center.
Her mother, Kari Wagner, is one of the many parents who have supported this effort over the years.
Wagner said the team has raised money for the cancer center in most years since 2011, with the exception of Jenny Dickinson, a local teacher who is battling cancer, and Toronto’s Jenny Dickinson, who later lost her battle. He said there was a donation for student Noah Long. He contracted the disease when he was 8 years old, and another time when, like many other things, volleyball season was cut short by the pandemic.
Mark Ferrell, the district’s athletic director, said the fundraiser was sponsored by head coach Lori Lynn Jackson. He said the team had a good season with a 23-2 record.
Hannah Dobbs, co-captain of the team along with Andrea Reeves and Michelle Anderson, said of the fundraising game against Buckeye Local. “I think it’s great to be able to play for a great cause. It made the game even more important.”