WECI, faculty play ball for clean water
by Yuliya Daniels
Faculty gathered in the Wellness Center Saturday to play a game of basketball against the WECI radio station’s DJs, staffers and their supporters. The event was held to fundraise money for the Dollar for Clean Water Campaign, according to freshman Katie Laushman, a WECI radio station music librarian. As viewers of the game walked on to the court, they were issued a ticket, half of which was put into a raffle drawing held at the end of the game.
Laushman explained, “The raffle drawing served as an incentive for people to come” and to donate money for the campaign. The prizes included WECI radio station items such as T-shirts and CDs. The CDs are donated to WECI by recording companies so that the songs are previewed by the radio station and promoted on the air. Sometimes the CDs are not used or the radio station receives extra ones that they do not need; those extra CDs were raffled away at the basketball game.
As previously mentioned, the reason for this basketball fundraiser was to gain funds for clean water. The Garden City Mobile Home community in Richmond has a toxic amount of arsenic in their tap water, and most of the members of this community cannot afford constantly buying bottled water. Therefore, the Earlham community, including WECI, has been helping to raise funds to buy bottled water and help the community in other ways.
Bob Wotherspoon, a Richmond community member and the clean water campaign manager, said, “There are 310 people residing in Garden City. This is their home and we should do everything we can to help them keep it.”
Senior Jeff Holliday, the co-station manager at WECI, said they had sold over 100 tickets even before half time, meaning that at least they had collected 100 dollars. Also, Holliday added that many of the people who purchased tickets donated above the ticket price. In the end, senior Business Manager Eve Dewan said they had “sold 156 tickets and made $201 for the Dollar for Clean Water campaign.”
Holliday mentioned that the WECI basketball team on the court was the WECI intramural basketball team. They have not practiced since the intramural season; however, the team “made it to the playoffs” this past season. This is the first time that WECI has organized a basketball game; however, Holliday said that they “usually have a benefit concert” every year to fundraise for one cause or another. For example, two years ago, WECI radio station organized live music, a raffle, hot dog-eating contests and more on the D Street field.
The faculty members were asked to participate by the WECI staff. Participating faculty included Wendy Tori and Peter Blair from the biology department.
According to freshman Jessica Jensen, the photographer for the event, Peter Blair “has some serious skills.”
Other faculty included Tori’s husband, who currently teaches at Miami University in Oxford, Rodolfo Guzmán from the Spanish department, Avis Stewart, who is the vice president of community relations, and Ferit Güven from the philosophy department. All were coached by Jo Ann Martin from the sociology and anthropology department.
“Jo Ann Martin did a better job of coaching the faculty basketball team than Tennessee’s Pat Summitt,” said Stewart.
The faculty team beat the WECI team with the final score at 54-40.
Dewan said that the game was great: “We all got to see some real talent that people don’t have the opportunity to show off in the classroom.”
Senior Thom Stead, co-station manager, said, “I was really happy to see so many students and faculty come out and support a good cause. It’s something that I hope that WECI will continue to do in the future.”
Senior Coleman Yunger, who played for WECI, added, “It was a blast!”
If you missed the game, but would still like to donate to the Dollar for Clean Water Campaign, you may contact Wotherspoon at (765) 966-1830. There are also donation jars across Earlham Campus.
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