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Charlotte Volleyball "DIG PINK" REACHES TENTH YEAR IN CHARLOTTE The Charlotte volleyball program continues this season with "Dig Pink" to raise money for Breast Cancer Research. The 2010 season will mark the tenth straight season that Charlotte participates in this type of fundraiser. Charlotte will host its 2011 "Dig Pink" match on Friday, October 14 versus Rhode Island at 7 p.m. Charlotte was where "Dig For the Cure" was founded, by then-head coach Lisa Marston, for the 2002 season. She maintained the "Dig for the Cure" philanthropy and joined forces with "Dig Pink" for this season, which joins with the Side Out Foundation for raising awareness and money for Breast Cancer Research. The Side-Out Foundation is a 501 c3 Non-Profit charity operating under the brand of Dig Pink™ that promotes volleyball events throughout the year to raise money for Breast Cancer translational research and community support services. Since 2004, Dig Pink raised over $3.5M for breast cancer research and education, with help from teams and tournaments from around the country. Charlotte finished second nationally among college programs around the country in fundraising efforts last season, with over $10,000 raised, behind Notre Dame, which was just a few hundred dollars ahead. The Niners saw a school-record 1,803 fans at the Dig Pink match, all clad in pink t-shirts. Planning began last spring for this year's Charlotte efforts, beginning with a donation collection on a rainy pregame tailgate at a Carolina Panthers home game in late September. The tenth month brought media attention with Web site and television appearances. Penny Wars went on during the first two weeks of the month. Each athletic team was assigned a jar in the Academic Athletic Center in which team members would collect pennies toward a team score. The department raised $300 as a result. Donations were solicited at area restaurants, with a portion of each item purchased donated to the cause, along with t-shirt sales and general donations for prizes. The tally from that day was just under $600 by patrons. The program held its first "Jail and Bail" on October 13th using notable campus figures to help raise money in a mock public cell set up outside the Student Union. The event put together $1,400 towards the team goals. The team also gave away pink t-shirts to the first 1,000 fans at the match on October 15, but also sold specially made t-shirts leading up to and at the match. $200 was raised in flat donations at the game and another $660 came in from the sale of these special shirts. In 2008, 227 programs across the country, including Charlotte, raised over $260,000 for "Dig for the Cure," while 330 teams raised nearly $400,000 in 2009 for "Dig Pink." "Dig for the Cure" helped raise almost $600,000 over its six seasons. Breast Cancer affects one out of every eight women. The main goal of the Side-Out Foundation is to "To make a sig- nificant and identifiable contribution to the fight against Breast Cancer." Rick Dunetz, founder of The Side-Out Foundation said "this is a great opportunity to bring Lisa's experience as a coach and fund raiser to help us grow a national coalition of volleyball coaches and players who are committed to beat the disease. "My mother is a breast cancer survivor," Marston said. "We started 'Dig for the Cure' to honor breast cancer survivors around the world. Most every person has been affected in some way by breast cancer, and so many people responded that we decided to expand it and get the rest of the conference and then the country involved. The Side-Out Foundation is a perfect fit for me because I believe it gives me the unique perspective of being a volleyball charitable foundation. I am looking forward to using the experience I gained in running Dig for the Cure and to learning from the wonderful people at Side-Out in order to help make the Side-Out Foundation a leader in specific areas of fighting breast cancer." Anyone interested in pledging money or making a donation to this year's Dig Pink effort can get more information at www.charlotte49ers.com.