ONEONTA, NY – This Sunday, Hartwick's women's lacrosse team will square off with nationally ranked St. John Fisher in an Empire 8 Conference game at Wright Stadium. The game has additional significance, however, as both teams will play to help raise awareness and financial support for children in impoverished areas, particularly in the city of San Pedro, Costa Rica.
Two Hartwick juniors -
Emily Jweid (Marcy, NY/Whitesboro) and
Steph DiPreta (Franklin Square, NY/H. Frank Carey) – traveled to San Pedro during Hartwick's J-Term and worked directly with the children from the area, teaching them the game of lacrosse.
Jweid and DiPreta worked with the children from San Pedro through Beyond, an international education and service-learning organization that uses sports as a vehicle to explore the world and create meaningful cross-cultural relationships.
"The children we worked with had never even heard of lacrosse before," said Jweid. "There were about 100 kids ages six to twelve in the one daycare we worked with, which was in a very poor area. The playing areas the children had access to had broken glass and some of the kids did not have shoes."
On Sunday, both women's teams from Hartwick and St. John Fisher will wear t-shirts during their pre-game warm-up, which were inspired by the children of San Pedro.
"We asked the kids to draw pictures of their experiences throughout the week learning the game of lacrosse. We took their creations and produced the t-shirts," Jweid added. "All of the kids' signatures that we worked with are on the back of the shirts."
Hartwick team members and staff will be accepting donations throughout the day on Sunday. All proceeds will benefit both the children of San Pedro and Beyond, which will use the money to purchase new equipment to increase and enhance their athletic opportunities.
"I absolutely love the charity event we're supporting this year," Hartwick head coach
Jackie Rutkowski said. "It's an event that has personally touched and helped the Hartwick players grow as human beings. Emily shares stories daily of just how amazing the experience was with the children of San Pedro and Steph relishes a chance to return in the future and expresses the importance of her teammates going as well. Our entire team has really seen just how much a little can do to influence a person for a lifetime and we want to give back because we have all been personally touched by the Beyond program."