IBCA E-Newsletter

January is ‘Coaches vs. Cancer’ month

The IBCA again has designated January as “Coaches vs. Cancer” month for high school Basketball in Indiana.

In the first nine years of this initiative, boys’ and girls’ coaches across Indiana raised more than $826,000. In 2015-16 coaches, teams and communities that reported raised more than $67,000. That brings the nine-year reported total from Indiana basketball coaches to $826,428.

For 2016-17, ideally pick a date in January for a “Coaches vs. Cancer” game. If not January, please pick a date that works for you and host a “Coaches vs. Cancer” game.

The American Cancer Society also will present banners to programs that meet certain levels of donations. Categories are Champion ($10,000 or more), MVP ($5,000 to $9,999) and All Star ($2,500 to $4,999).

This January, we are asking every IBCA boys' and girls' coach to select a game to promote “Coaches vs. Cancer.”

All participating schools will be recognized this year on www.coachesvscancerindiana.org; those raising a total of $2,500 or more through all sports will receive a "Coaches vs. Cancer" recognition banner imprinted with the school’s name. To be eligible, all funds raised from throughout the school year must be turned into the local American Cancer Society office no later than June 1, 2017.

For accounting purposes, it helps tremendously if funds can be turned in by March 15, 2017.

Once you have determined the date for your “Coaches vs. Cancer” game, please e-mail this info to Gene Milner (gmilner@tds.net) so we can list the game dates on our “Coaches vs. Cancer” calendar. During this game, we are asking you to pass a container through the crowd (or make one available at your ticket counter) for fans to make donations. Checks should be made payable to "American Cancer Society."

After the game, we ask you to do the following:

1. E-mail Gene Milner to let him know how much money was collected and to what charity it was donated if other than the American Cancer Society.
2. Call Bob Lovell of Indiana SportsTalk and let him know how much you collected
3. Send a check for the amount collected (payable to the "American Cancer Society") to Steve Witty, P.O. Box 638, Plainfield, IN 46168, who will forward it to the Coaches vs. Cancer office, or you can send it directly to the American Cancer Society. Here is a list of ACS offices in Indiana with the senior manager of each:
   • American Cancer Society-Southern Indiana Office, 5250 Vogel Rd., Main Level, Evansville, IN 47715. Phone: 812-475-9244. Senior manager: Eric Pittman.
   • American Cancer Society-Central Indiana Office, 5635 W. 96th Street, Suite 100, Indianapolis, IN 46278. Phone: 317-344-7800. Senior managers: Jeff Johnson, Stephen Hunt.
   • American Cancer Society-Northern Indiana Office: 130 Red Coach Drive, Mishawaka, IN 46545. Phone: 574-257-9789. Senior manager: Suzanne Tracy.
   • American Cancer Society-Northeast Indiana Office, 111 East Ludwig Road, Suite 105, Fort Wayne, IN 46825. Phone: 260-471-3911. Senior manager: Suzanne Tracy.

Indiana is part of the Lakeshore Division of American Cancer Society. The contact there is Sarah Pooler, Senior Community Manager, 1775 Abbey Rd., East Lansing, MI 48823. Phone: 517-644-1311.

Please make plans now to include a "Coaches vs. Cancer" game on your schedule for the 2015-16 season. Our goal is 100 percent participation of all high schools in Indiana.

Here is a note from ACS “Coaches vs. Cancer” specialist Sarah Pooler.

The American Cancer Society would like to thank the IBCA and coaches who engage their players and schools in our Coaches vs. Cancer initiative.

From research to education, and treatment to recovery, we provide support to everyone impacted by this disease. With your help, we mover closer to a world free from the pain and suffering of cancer.

This season we are thrilled and excited to invite you to participate in the Coaches vs. Cancer 3-Point Challenge. Through this exciting new platform, we can customize an online team campaign for you that features donation tracking and social media sharing, so that high school basketball fans can cheer on your team while supporting the nation’s premier cancer fighting organization, the American Cancer Society.

With the support of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, college coaches from around the country are joining the challenge this season and are encouraging high school coaches to do the same.

To learn more, contact Sarah Pooler at 517-664-1311 or email sarah.pooler@cancer.org. We have a campaign-website up and running to welcome the participation of Indiana Sports teams: https://pledgeit.org/for/acs-indiana.

Starting a sports-performance-based fund-raising campaign is fun and easy and can be implemented by any sport at any time. Please share this exciting opportunity within your athletic departments. We look forward to helping you get started!

Don’t forget - schools that raise funds through Coaches vs. Cancer are eligible for our annual banner recognition program!

Connect with us: https://facebook.com/CVCIndiana

To help support activities at your school, the American Cancer Society will provide a Coaches vs. Cancer Tool Kit with information on how to get started, ideas for fundraising, sample materials to help with local promotion, and a post-event reporting form to submit along with all donations to your local American Cancer Society office.

To request a Coaches vs. Cancer Game Day Toolkit for your school, sign up at http://coachesvscancer.org/youth.

For questions or to learn more, please contact coachesvscancer@cancer.org or 800-227-2345.

Promotional Ideas for Coaches vs. Cancer

• Sell Coaches vs. Cancer donation cards prior to the event and/or at the game and create a Wall of Hope with the names of those touched by cancer
• Coins for cancer / bring loose change
• Home Room competition
• Signed basketball give-away (Wilson might donate basketballs)
• Posters in memory of cancer victims
• Donate money to put up poster, with name of cancer survivor
• Paper airplanes at halftime: Fans pay $1 when they enter gym. At halftime, fans try to fly their paper airplane into the center of jump circle for prizes
• Coaches or players wear pink socks
• Sell specifically designed T-shirts with appropriate message Coaches vs. Cancer
• Cheerleaders wear pink sock and bows in their hair
• Some ADs donated $1 for each ticket purchased
• Classes set up donation bucket at home games
• Dress-down day for high school students
• Pink warm-up shirts and pink shoe laces
• Players wear game shoes with shirt, ties, dress pants and go into stands to collect
• 10 percent of gate sales donated
• Silent auction
• Proceeds from the sale of cookies and ice cream during lunch break
• Identify a cancer survivor from your community and sell pink carnations in his or her honor