Shrine Catholic teams hold ‘pink out’ games to fight breast cancer

ROYAL OAK — Pink socks, pink shirts, pink gloves and pink hats; it’s all in recognition of breast cancer awareness month in October.

While schools may have a day dedicated to wearing all pink, Royal Oak Shrine Catholic High School took it a step further this year.

Shrine Catholic’s football, volleyball and soccer programs all took part in a “pink out” event this year to raise money to fight breast cancer.

“This year it just kind of gained momentum,” Shrine soccer coach Mark Soma said. “A lot of our girls are crossover players with different sports, so it just lined up with everyone else.”

Shrine soccer held its pink out game against Clawson High School on Oct. 13 at Shrine High School, and Clawson joined in as its players wore pink socks.

While soccer and football were new to the pink out program this year, Shrine volleyball has been the bridge between the Pink Fund organization and Shrine athletics.

The Pink Fund, which was founded in Bloomfield Hills by Molly MacDonald in 2006, is a nonprofit organization that supports women with breast cancer, and even provides $3,000 toward nonmedical expenses for women battling breast cancer.

“Once you hear what the Pink Fund has done, it’s hard to walk away from it,” Jenn Gallagher said.

Gallagher, a volunteer for the Pink Fund, has been the pink out coordinator for Shrine volleyball for the past two years. Gallagher’s daughter, Elena, is a junior on the Shrine volleyball varsity team.

Jenn Gallagher’s mother was diagnosed with breast cancer almost 20 years ago, and Jenn Gallagher said that was a driving force behind her commitment to the organization.

“It was almost like an homage to my mother who was a survivor, but once you hear about it, it’s also a bridge to women who are working through their worst months,” Gallagher said.

The volleyball team held its pink out game against Riverview Gabriel Richard on Oct. 12., and had its annual ‘honor wall’ for students to write the names of a family member or someone they know who has battled breast cancer.

The crowd was a sea of pink for the volleyball game, and all the players for Shrine wore pink as well.

“The Pink Fund needs groups like Shrine to come together and do something like this,” Gallagher said. “Shrine tends to come together for something like this, but we also like to celebrate together, and give to a worthy organization.”

Shrine’s football program also participated in the pink out festivities in its game against Clarkston Everest Collegiate on Oct. 14.

Amy Firek, who was diagnosed with breast cancer two years ago, coordinated the football team’s pink out celebration with the help of Gallagher.

“I brought the idea to the athletic director and coach O (Oscar Olejniczak), and I spoke to Jenn Gallagher, and I brought basically what she did for volleyball to football,” Firek said. Firek’s son, Frank, is a senior defensive tackle on Shrine’s football team.

While the soccer and volleyball participation was convincing enough, Firek said there was one thing that motivated her to coordinate the event.

“Another inspiration was there’s two other players on the football team that went through breast cancer this year also, so I felt inspired to carry this out,” Firek said.

Aside from all the football players and fans wearing pink, the football game also had 50/50 raffles, the honor wall and a bake sale.

“It was outstanding,” Olejniczak said.

The Pink Fund, which has become a nationally renowned organization, has already donated more than $5 million to date toward women battling breast cancer. For more information, visit www.pinkfund.org. Shrine raised more than $5,000 during its pink out week.

If local schools are interested in setting up a similar event, Gallagher said she is more than happy to help any school with coordinating an event. Interested parties can reach her at jen-gallagher@comcast.net.

“All these kids have these pink shirts they want to wear at school and honor someone; it’s become a really special thing,” Gallagher said.