West plays Pink Heals volleyball game to make a difference

JTHS held its annual Pink Heals volleyball game on October 1. Photo courtesy of jths.org.

JTHS held its annual Pink Heals volleyball game on October 1. Photo courtesy of jths.org.

Kelly Plyer, Copy Editor

The Pink Heals annual volleyball game will be hosted at Joliet Central this year on October 1st at 6 p.m. T-shirts are sold by the players and Central will be in control of the raffles.

Varsity Coach Alan Mart gave his input on what Pink Heals is all about. “The program Pink Heals started in 2009 originally being called Volley for Cure. They eventually changed it last year because it allowed them to give the money they raised directly back to Joliet and the community,” he stated.

The whole idea behind Pink Heals, and why it was created, was to raise money for people battling any type of cancer. The National Breast Cancer Foundation stated, “One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime.”

Another foundation, The American Cancer Society, said, “In 2015, there will be an estimated 1,658,370 new cancer cases diagnosed and 589,430 cancer deaths in the United States”.

Coach Mart stated, “Last year we hit a personal record by raising 10,000 dollars by selling Pink Heals t-shirts and various raffles for the cause.”

Joliet Township High School is now the top school in the state of Illinois for raising the most money for this event. The ISHA even wrote an article about the district, acknowledging their achievements.

The district ordered over 700 t-shirts last year, and it is hoping to increase that number even more this year and order more shirts.

The Pink Heals shirts are produced and manufactured by Palos Sport. Kelsey Duranty, a teacher from Central, was very involved in helping create this year’s logo.

Varsity captain Lauren Stefanski said about her view on the Pink Heals game, “The Pink Heals game to me is a huge honor to be a part of. Everything about it is all for one cause and makes such a huge impact on the organization. Both teams enjoy it so much and love being a part of such an amazing atmosphere as well as all the fun that comes with it.”