Royal Purple

Issue date: 10/1/08 Section: Arts & Entertainment

UW-Whitewater's Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity sponsored the Pike Spike Volleyball tournament for the Team Hailey Foundation.

On a scorching beautiful Saturday and Sunday afternoon students enjoyed another day playing sand volleyball by the Williams Center. However, the scene was different as students played with live music and wore bright yellow t-shirts with a black No.1 on the back.

UW-Whitewater's Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity sponsored the Pike Spike Volleyball tournament for the Team Hailey Foundation. The Team Hailey Foundation was inspired by UW-Whitewater senior Carolyn Schweitzer's cousin, Hailey Jaye Meltz. She was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor called Pediatric Low Grade Astrocytoma (PLGA) when she was 20 months old. There is no cure for the tumor, and the treatments that do exist are outdated, toxic and ultimately torturous to the thousands of kids affected with the disease.

The tournament had 15 teams of five participating including 15 workers on Saturday.

Senior and Pi Kappa Alpha external vice-president Sam Daniels said the fraternity chose to create a volleyball tournament for the Team Hailey Foundation because they wanted to help for a cause of a family member of a student.

"Our Fraternity decided to make this volleyball tournament for the Team Hailey Foundation for a couple of different reasons," Daniels said. "Last semester Schweitzer came to one of our meetings and showed us a video on what a day in the life of Hailey was like. Seeing Hailey go through the treatments and still smile at the end of the day really touched every one of my brothers and me. Knowing that Hailey has been fighting PLGA made us realize that we needed to help with this fight.

"We wanted to come up with an event where people would be able to do something fun while raising money at the same time. Pike Spike was the tournament we came up with, a sand volleyball tournament in which people could come together with their friends and raise funds for a good cause!"

Schweitzer said she was in awe when Pi Kappa Alpha wanted to make the tournament for her cousin foundation.

"I felt honored that they [Pi Kappa Alpha] thought of Hailey and wanted to help her," Schweitzer said. "I was filled with immense gratitude for everything that they did to make the tournament a success."

Schweitzer also said she hopes with the money raised from the event there will be a cure for the disease.

"Time is of essence in Hailey's situation," Schweitzer said. "We don't know how long she has to live. At any time, the tumor could take a major turn for the worst and her precious life would end. Pi Kappa Alpha is a great example of how an organization took the time to fundraise for the PLGA Foundation and by making a donation, will hopefully aid in finding a cure for this horrible brain tumor."

Team Duck Butter won the tournament. The fab five included senior Doug Rosenthal, junior Kimberly Larsen, Adam Spalding, Megan Chart and Jordi Stievo. The team received a $100 gift certificate to the Waterfront restaurant in Delavan.

The event rose over $700 for the PLGA Foundation. For more information on Team Hailey and the PLGA foundation please visit http://www.teamhailey.org.

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