Think Pink Night to raise funds for Mercy Center for Breast Health-North Iowa

MASON CITY – The North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) volleyball team will host its Sixth Annual Think Pink night on Wednesday, October 9, 2013. The Trojans will host the Waldorf Junior Varsity team at 7:00 p.m.  Admission is $5.00 (free for cancer survivors).

The Think Pink match is an annual fundraising event associated with raising money for breast cancer awareness.  All of the proceeds will stay local and will be donated to Mercy Center for Breast Health (a department of Mercy Medical Center of North Iowa).  The funds will be used for un-insured and underinsured women in North Iowa for breast health imaging including screening mammograms, diagnostic mammograms, ultrasounds, and biopsies.

“It is very exciting to hear students and community talk about our upcoming Think Pink event,”

said Chris Brandt, head volleyball coach.  “Our event provides a wonderful opportunity for our players to get involved in breast cancer awareness, education and at the same time provide an exciting volleyball match for the community.  We are also eager to be playing another North Iowa team for the event and hope that playing Waldorf will spark additional interest in our fundraising efforts.”

The community can support this cause in several ways:

• Attend the volleyball game.
• Purchase Think Pink t-shirts: T-shirts are $10 (Youth Medium, Large, Adult Small, Medium, Large, XL), $11 (Adult 2XL) or $12(Adult 3XL). Long Sleeve t-shirts are also being offered for $14(Youth Medium, Large, Adult Small, Medium, Large, XL), $15(Adult 2XL) or $16(Adult 3XL). Shirts can be ordered by contacting NIACC Volleyball Coach Chris Brandt at brandchr@niacc.edu  or mailing in the order form that can be found at our athletic website: www.niacctrojans.com.  Any remaining shirts will be sold at the door of the match.  Ordering deadline is Wednesday, October 2, 2013.

A “Kiss-the-Pig” contest will also be held in conjunction with the t-shirt sale. It’s a battle of the teams this year, NIACC coaches and players versus Waldorf coaches and players. People who buy a Think Pink T-shirt or donate money can vote for which team they want to see kiss a pig between the second and third sets of the volleyball match.  Each dollar donated will equal one vote.

The NIACC Nursing Department will be sponsoring the activities at the Think Pink match to educate people on breast cancer, host games before the match and sell pink-themed treats, such as cupcakes and cookies.

“We are also very happy to remain a partner with Mercy Center for Breast Health so that our funds stay local and we can continue to help spread the message that mammograms save lives,” Brandt said.  “We hope that getting our players involved in raising awareness for important causes will be a life-long process and they continue fighting once they leave NIACC.”