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Cardinals team up to raise funds for Chile
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Neighbors | Grace Wyler .Canfield High School students get ready to hit the courts for Cardinals for Chile, a four-on-four benefit basketball tournament to raise funds for victims of the recent earthquakes in Chile.
By GRACE WYLER
Basketball players, football players and students who just wanted to shoot hoops for a good cause teamed up to raise money for Chilean earthquake victims at a benefit basketball tournament Mar. 29.
Cardinals for Chile, a four-on-four basketball tournament organized by the senior class at Canfield High School, raised $2,800 to provide disaster relief to survivors of the recent earthquakes in Chile.
The event was spearheaded by Canfield High senior Andres Solano, a native of Santiago, Chile.
Solano was inspired to take action after seeing the devastation in his home country.
“The day the earthquake hit, the whole day was a rough day,” Solano said. “It was shocking, you just don’t expect things like that to happen.”
Noting a lack of enthusiasm for the school’s Coins for Haiti drive, Solano decided to come up with an exciting way to raise money for his cause.
“I wanted to see what I could do about getting people involved and getting them excited about spending their money,” Solano said. “I wanted people to have their money go into something that they would enjoy.”
Solano teamed up with the Canfield High senior class council, senior advisor Steve Hlaudy and athletic director Greg Cooper to organize the Cardinals for Chile tournament. The group raised money through sponsorship, donations, entry fees and a tee-shirt sale.
“We just wanted to support Andres,” said senior class secretary Elizabeth Cerimele. “We were just trying to back someone who had a really good idea.”
Solano is hoping this will become an annual benefit tournament organized by the Canfield High School senior class to help a cause.
The winning team was The “A” Team, consisting of Jimmy Rousher, Billy Fisher, Kaymaun Alexander and Mike Mangus. Team SWAG, which included Mike Podolsky, Vince Gelonese, Dalton Derthick and Will Smythe, finished second.
Proceeds from the tournament will be donated to Brother’s Brother Foundation, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit organization that will use the money for its relief efforts in Chile.