The University of Minnesota Duluth soccer team is proud to partner with Pancreatic Cancer Action Network and Damiano Center for the 2018 Kicks for Causes fundraiser this weekend in a pair of Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference matches. The two organizations were chosen by junior midfielder
Emily Hinz (Pancreatic Cancer Action Network) and senior goalkeeper
Carlye Wright (Damiano Center).
Since 2014, the Bulldog soccer club have assigned designated home match ups throughout the season as a way to give back to the community by having the student-athletes select organizations to highlight and directly work with. Now in its fifth year of action, 33 current-and-former players have campaigned with 22 different organizations to promote awareness and help fundraise through
Kicks for Causes.
The list below features which players and their organizations have gone so far in 2018.
UMD encourages fans to help support both causes in any matter that they can. If you are unavailable to make it to either game this weekend and are looking for additional information on
Damiano Center or
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, click on the organizational name. Stop on by this weekend at James S. Malosky Stadium when the Bulldogs take on Southwest Minnesota State University (Friday, Oct. 19 at 6:00 p.m.) and the University of Sioux Falls (Sunday, Oct. 21 at 12:00 p.m.) to help each cause.
PANCREATIC CANCER ACTION NETWORK - FRIDAY OCT. 19
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (PanCAN) was founded in 1999. Their goal is to save lives by attacking pancreatic cancer on all fronts: research, clinical initiatives, patient services and advocacy. Pancreatic cancer takes 91 percent of its victims within five years and is the third leading cause of cancer-related death, and it is projected to become the second around 2020.
They are hoping to rewrite that story by making the impossible possible. They are determined through their efforts to improve treatments and patients' outcomes by doubling the survival rate by 2020. They are striving for: more researchers and resources, clinical trials that match patient needs, higher clinical trial enrollment rate, doctors delivering best practice, and creating more public awareness and visibility.
Pancreatic cancer starts when cells in the pancreas start to grow out of control. The pancreas is an organ that sits behind the stomach and releases enzymes that aid digestion and hormones that help manage blood sugar. The cancer is typically found in the late stages as symptoms don't appear until late. There are two types of cells in the pancreas, the exocrine cells and endocrine cells. Ninety-five percent have exocrine tumors. The tumor can then leave and spread to other parts of the body. Normally, liver failure happens when the tumor takes over. This year, about 53,700 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. About 43,000 people will die of pancreatic cancer.
Like senior forward Natalie St. Martin, Hinz lost a close family friend as well. But little did she know after St. Martin selected PacCAN last fall that Hinz would be personally hit with pancreatic cancer to someone close. This past summer Hinz lost a close family friend that she would relate to as a second grandmother. Well known in the her hometown of St. Louis Park, Minn., the word hurt to Hinz, her family, and the surrounding community. Like in most cases Hinz' second grandmother, Sandy, soon passed away after being diagnosed. Before her passing Katie Hinz, Emily's sister, organized a walk through the PanCAN organization to help raise money for Sandy and raise awareness.
DAMIANO CENTER - SUNDAY OCT. 21
The mission of the Damiano Center, a local 501(c)3 nonprofit in the heart of Duluth, is to help all people and strengthen the community by providing essential services to individuals and families who are in need. Our goal is to be responsive to the needs of people who are low-income, unemployed, and working poor in our community as simply and directly as possible.
During the deep recession of the early 1980s, which hit Duluth particularly hard, people began lining up at the former Catholic convent on 2nd Street, and at a commune just down the hill. However, by 1981, the diocese activities had moved to other parts of the city. The former Sacred Heart School building stood vacant, and the group providing meals asked Bishop Paul Anderson if they could use the kitchen in the old school. He agreed, and on March 15th, 1982 the Soup Kitchen, now Community Kitchen, served its first meal.
Now, the Damiano Center has provided essential, emergency assistance for more than 35 years. The Damiano Center began as a spontaneous response to need, and it grew to provide multi-faceted emergency services, leading to it becoming a quintessential community organization. The Center offers a Community Kitchen, a Kid's Kitchen, Free Store, Clothes That Work, Health Realization and Community Services.
Wright chose the Damaino Center because of the local tie to the Duluth community. She and her teammates have volunteered their time in the past to helping those in need of services. It was an easy choice says Wright after the work she has done in the community with the Salvation Army and with the renovation work at the Damiano Center this past spring with the Kid's Kitchen transformation. She wanted to build off the past relationship she had with the center and help local families in need.
