By Emily Goldberg
Florida Southern athletics is not only known for their amazing work they do on the field or on the court but also for the amazing work that they do throughout the community.
Six-year-old, Anya Cale Harvey, has spent about one-third of her life battling acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Assistant coach of the women’s lacrosse team, Shannon McHale ran a 100-mile run to help raise money for Anya and her family. McHale has helped raise money for the same cause back in 2015 and 2016 by participating in a race. This year she participated again, but also got help from the team.
“Our team does a lot of community service. We haven’t really raised this much money before but we have done a lot of volunteering with our coaches church,” Senior, Taylor Gillis said.
Last Friday, McHale told the team that if they could raise $500, then an anonymous donor would match their donation. The team felt that they should raise more than the assigned amount and they ended up handing in a total of $2,185 after three days. They reached their initial goal within the first 15 minutes and continued to be challenged to raise more money.
“It feels really good knowing that our team can help a family get through a hard time. It is always a good feeling helping others in need,” Gillis said.
You can read more about Anya’s story on her YouCaring page at www.YouCaring.com/AnyaCaleHarveyFamily-704681. She is only a few months away from completing her two and a half year treatment and the page has already raised $2,618 out of their $5,000 goal.
You can watch the women’s lacrosse team in their season opener on Feb. 13th at 5 p.m.
