Ursinus College students for Mr. Stephen Bowers Business and Economics Management class, BE 230, are putting together events to help a cause. Students, Maria Mastoris, Samuel Weiser, Anthony Giovanozzo, Jason Gihorski, and Katie Hunt, put together a kickball tournament on Oct. 25 that was a great success. The charity they are lending a helping hand to is the Make-a-Wish Foundation. They thought of many different ideas such as a brew fest and a festival, but their final decision was a kickball tournament an food festival to follow at Waterworks Park in Trappe, PA which they called “Kicking for Kids” to bring the campus community together.
The charity they chose, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, has been granting the wishes of children with life threatening conditions since 1980. Suzanne DiCicco who is a volunteer for the Make-a-Wish Foundation came to speak to us about what the foundation does and a little bit about what the volunteers do. She did a quick question and answer that was very informative. She told us, “The foundations purpose is to give them hope, strength and joy. We grant the wishes of children who want to be a certain professions for a day, go on special vacations, or meeting professional actors and actresses and athletes.” Not surprising, she told us, “The children’s most popular wish is a trip to Disney World with their families.”
The group chose this charity because Ursinus College Junior, Maria Mastoris’s aunt works on the board at the Philadelphia Susquehanna chapter. Mastoris told me, “It was easy to get a contact and what the Make-a-Wish does for children makes [them] feel good as well.” The young child this group was assigned to help grant a wish for is four year old Mehki from Philadelphia, PA. Although the family chose to keep his condition private to the public, the group of Ursinus students still had no regrets about helping this young boy fulfill his dream. His wish is to go on a trip to Disney World this December with his family.
To prepare, Mastoris shared that they had to first consider how many people they would draw. They had to contact and visit restaurants and get donations for the food fest. They also had to contact groups on campus such as athletes and Greek life to get kickball teams together. In order to try and get the community involved they got in touch with the Collegeville Main Street Program and a member on the Trappe Borough and to reserve space and time at the park. Mastoris said, “It took a lot of time and frustration to get all the pieces together but in the end it all went well because of it. The community and campus were both aware of the event and it was a huge promotional market success and the people who came out to the tournament and food fest seemed to have had a good time.”
Ursinus senior, Anthony Giovanozzo said, “The tournament was very successful. There were five teams that ranged from six to eighteen players, but the Ursinus baseball team came out on top and was tournament champions.” He laughed and also mentioned maybe it was unfair that the baseball team won, but it was all for fun and to help out a child in need. Other Ursinus varsity teams that were involved in the tournament were the men and women’s basketball teams. On top of all the tournament participants about twenty five more came out for the food festival and all together there were about eighty to ninety people that came out to show their support.
Many donations were also received just for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. They also held a raffle at the food festival for a Philadelphia Eagles DeSean Jackson signed jersey that was arrange by Giovanozzo and will continue until the end of the semester and they will be around campus selling raffle tickets. They also had games such as how many M&Ms are in the jar and guess the weight of the pumpkin, and winners received gift certificates to local restaurants. Mastoris said, “We did hope to draw more teams and have more people for the food, but it was a great turnout. All in all it was a great day, sunny and nice and the event went smoothly.” Ursinus Junior, Samuel Weiser said, “It was nice that we were able to throw an event that people enjoyed and also benefitted a good charity.”
The charity they chose, the Make-a-Wish Foundation, has been granting the wishes of children with life threatening conditions since 1980. Suzanne DiCicco who is a volunteer for the Make-a-Wish Foundation came to speak to us about what the foundation does and a little bit about what the volunteers do. She did a quick question and answer that was very informative. She told us, “The foundations purpose is to give them hope, strength and joy. We grant the wishes of children who want to be a certain professions for a day, go on special vacations, or meeting professional actors and actresses and athletes.” Not surprising, she told us, “The children’s most popular wish is a trip to Disney World with their families.”
The group chose this charity because Ursinus College Junior, Maria Mastoris’s aunt works on the board at the Philadelphia Susquehanna chapter. Mastoris told me, “It was easy to get a contact and what the Make-a-Wish does for children makes [them] feel good as well.” The young child this group was assigned to help grant a wish for is four year old Mehki from Philadelphia, PA. Although the family chose to keep his condition private to the public, the group of Ursinus students still had no regrets about helping this young boy fulfill his dream. His wish is to go on a trip to Disney World this December with his family.
To prepare, Mastoris shared that they had to first consider how many people they would draw. They had to contact and visit restaurants and get donations for the food fest. They also had to contact groups on campus such as athletes and Greek life to get kickball teams together. In order to try and get the community involved they got in touch with the Collegeville Main Street Program and a member on the Trappe Borough and to reserve space and time at the park. Mastoris said, “It took a lot of time and frustration to get all the pieces together but in the end it all went well because of it. The community and campus were both aware of the event and it was a huge promotional market success and the people who came out to the tournament and food fest seemed to have had a good time.”
Ursinus senior, Anthony Giovanozzo said, “The tournament was very successful. There were five teams that ranged from six to eighteen players, but the Ursinus baseball team came out on top and was tournament champions.” He laughed and also mentioned maybe it was unfair that the baseball team won, but it was all for fun and to help out a child in need. Other Ursinus varsity teams that were involved in the tournament were the men and women’s basketball teams. On top of all the tournament participants about twenty five more came out for the food festival and all together there were about eighty to ninety people that came out to show their support.
Many donations were also received just for the Make-a-Wish Foundation. They also held a raffle at the food festival for a Philadelphia Eagles DeSean Jackson signed jersey that was arrange by Giovanozzo and will continue until the end of the semester and they will be around campus selling raffle tickets. They also had games such as how many M&Ms are in the jar and guess the weight of the pumpkin, and winners received gift certificates to local restaurants. Mastoris said, “We did hope to draw more teams and have more people for the food, but it was a great turnout. All in all it was a great day, sunny and nice and the event went smoothly.” Ursinus Junior, Samuel Weiser said, “It was nice that we were able to throw an event that people enjoyed and also benefitted a good charity.”
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