February 4, 2010: Athletics

Hoops for Haiti
OWU basketball reaches out to earthquake-rocked country

After an earthquake rocked Haiti on January 12, the Ohio Wesleyan community stepped up to raise money and supplies to send to help relief efforts.

The men’s and women’s basketball teams launched the Hoops for Haiti campaign and collected nearly $200 in donations at their games this week.

Nan Carney-DeBord, the women’s coach, says she and post player Carly Shields ’13 were discussing their desire to do something for Haiti. Carney-DeBord says Chaplain Jon Powers and his office have been very supportive. Powers is heading most of the relief projects that OWU is taking on.

“We did not have the time after being on the road last week to promote the event as much as we would have liked, but we were excited to do something,” Carney-DeBord says.

Along with raising money for Haiti relief, the team holds several games a year for breast cancer research, has held clinics for young girls and is sponsoring National Girls and Women in Sports Day this Friday.

“The team is always happy to be a platform for awareness in the outer community,” Carney-DeBord says.

“It is an honor to work at OWU for this reason alone. We, as a community, don’t sit back. We take action. It is easy to generate ideas for outreach, but it takes effort to get the ball rolling…no pun intended!”

– Michelle Rotuno-Johnson ’12