A big win was accomplished for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization by community members, high school students and the volleyball team at a ‘Dig for a Cure’ event.
Tracy Hoeschele co-organized the event with Hogden. Organizing took a lot of time and effort from both of them–but they came through.
“It was pretty awesome. It took a lot of organizing, but Holland Hogden and Tracy Hoeschele did really great,” said senior Emma Erlandson, member of the volleyball team.
Hogden and Hoeschele worked together to have a smooth, successful event. They each took on separate tasks that were more suited to them. According to Hoeschele, she worked on ordering and just generally giving ideas, while Holland was able to take care of all the high school things.
“I basically gave them [Hogden and Hoeschele] a little bit of information, and they took care of everything,” said volleyball head coach John Thurow. “ Without them, it probably wouldn’t have happened.”
The drive to do a benefit came from Thurow.
“I went to the Wisconsin State Volleyball Clinic, and they had a representative there who was giving information, trying to promote it [a ‘Dig for a Cure’ type event] in high schools,” said Thurow.
Thurow was extremely impressed with the community support, as well as the high school student support.
“Seeing all the people there in pink, and all the high school kids that painted pink, it was really great to see that support,” said Thurow.
Everybody was involved in the effort. Volleyball team members, parents– even the opposing team participated.
“Coach Thurow told GET [Galesville-Ettrick-Trempeleau] that we were doing this and they wore some pink shirts,” said Erlandson.
The success of the first ever Black River Falls Dig for the Cure event has made many people excited to see what will happen in the coming years. There will be more Dig for the Cure type events in the future, says Hoeschele, “Oh yeah– we definitely plan on doing this again. I mean, we raised a lot of money– $650.00 just in t-shirts.”
Area businesses stepped up to the breast cancer fighting plate as well. According to Hogden, Studio 107 donated $360.00 from the pink hair extensions you could see many of the volleyball members sporting.
“I was very happy with the businesses that stepped up,” said Hoeschele.
Between the organizing and community and high school support, the night was a success. Hopes are high to continue the event into the future. And the Lady Tiger’s 3-1 win capped off an event-filled night.
“It was fantastic,” said Hoeschele. “Just fantastic…”
