It all started back when Bayfield High School’s current head volleyball coach held the same position at Ignacio High School.
Fitting that, in Year Eight, the two schools meet in a Pink Digs for the Cure match.
Bayfield and Ignacio’s match at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at Bayfield High School will be the third in a four-match series of the annual Pink Digs for the Cure event, which benefits the Emergency Fund Scholarships for local, in-treatment breast cancer patients through the Women’s Health Coalition of Southwest Colorado.
And for Bayfield head coach and former IHS head coach Terene Foutz, October’s always a busy month since she got the ball rolling on Pink Digs eight years ago.
“I was just trying to solicit more community support, and I thought, ‘What greater way to give back, first, and encourage the community to come to the gym in Ignacio.’
“I saw a void in that the local Women’s Health Coalition was struggling to raise that fund. I think they had probably $1,000 roughly when we first began the conversation ... and it really resonated with me.”
The goal that first year was $5,000. The event brought in $10,000 and began a budding partnership with BP America that lasts today.
So, after one big year, Foutz pushed the bar further. Then further. Then further.
“I took a deep breath, and in the second year, I went for $10,000 and earned 15, then went for $15,000 and earned 22,” she said.
Now, the bar is set at $30,000, money that will be used to benefit people in the midst of treatment who need the financial support not just for breast cancer. The scholarship list now has expanded to aid people with varied types of cancer, Foutz said.
Events already have been held at IHS and Montezuma-Cortez High School, and Durango High School will host its Pink Digs night against Cortez on Oct. 22.
But players don’t just get to show up, don those pink jerseys and move on. Foutz said her goal always has included making sure the players are active in the fundraising process, which includes letter writing as well as getting to know some of the patients the funds go to benefit, some of the same patients who sit courtside for these matches.
“We were not going to wear the pink jerseys unless we made an impact in the life of someone else,” Foutz said.
“If the community is behind these student-athletes, who are behind cancer patients, it’s a very inspiring event.”
And it’s no longer just volleyball players; others are getting involved throughout the participating schools.
“The pink event itself is actually a celebration party of the work that they’ve done,” Foutz said. “They do school-wide, district-wide pink-out campaigns. Cheerleaders get involved; the student council gets involved.”
In 2012, the amount of contributions solicited by students went beyond what was contributed by corporate sponsorships for the first time.
Students also have pledged to write 200 letters soliciting contributions this year, and Foutz said 50 percent of that goal already has been met.
And it’s that – the hard work, the benefits to others, the unity – that Foutz hopes resonates most when players and students move beyond their high school days and into adulthood.
“They will not be able to quote you win-loss records, but they will remember the Pink Digs event when they met cancer patients ... watching them play for them on their behalf,” Foutz said.
rowens@durangoherald.com
