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Storm Field Hockey Raises Funds for Play4theCure
The St. Luke’s Field Hockey Program has raised over $2,100 so far this fall for the Play4TheCure charity. This is the eighth annual event organized by the Storm to benefit the National Foundation for Cancer Research.
Play4TheCure is the sports fundraising program of the NFCR. This year’s efforts were spearheaded by field hockey senior captains Lucy and Kathleen Ehlers.
Ms. Demarco-Havens and Mrs. Ehlers, the twins’ mom, introduced the Play for the Cure concept to St. Luke’s field hockey when they coached the varsity team in 2012.
The charity is near and dear to the hearts of the sisters who lost their cousin Sterling after a long battle with osteosarcoma in 2012 at just 26 years old. Sterling played field hockey at the University of Vermont and was someone both Lucy and Kathleen really looked up to. Lucy said: “Sterling was an amazing person and one of our biggest role models. She was diagnosed with cancer when she was 18 and bravely fought through her battle until she passed away. Our goal is to raise awareness of this terrible disease and as much money as possible to help fund the foundation’s efforts to find cancer treatments and ultimately a cure.”
Traditionally, the St. Luke’s Field Hockey Program has found many ways to raise money, including bake sales and other fun activities. However, due to the Covid-19 restrictions in place this year, the girls had to come up with new ways to support the cause. They set up a team page where families could donate money and held the annual Play4TheCure game last week. This year’s game was an intrasquad match on Thursday, Oct. 22, on the Class of 2018 Field. Lucy is grateful for all the contributions from the St. Luke’s community: “Our page automatically sends all of the donations to the National Foundation for Cancer Research. We started with a target of $1,000, so to be where we are already is amazing. We can’t thank the people who have contributed enough.”
The team also held a program-wide scrimmage day to include all middle school field hockey players, which Ehlers said was extremely fun: “We decided to bring back an old tradition where the varsity players helped out at one of the middle school girls' practices. We scrimmaged with them and had an awesome time as a fully inclusive SLS Field Hockey Program.”
If you would like to make a donation, you can find the St. Luke’s Field Hockey Play4theCure page here.
St. Luke’s School is a secular (non-religious), private school in New Canaan, CT for grades 5 through 12 serving over 35 towns in Connecticut and New York. Our exceptional academics and diverse co-educational community foster students’ intellectual and ethical development and prepare them for top colleges. St. Luke’s Center for Leadership builds the commitment to serve and the confidence to lead.
