January 30, 2014

Cornell Athletics Play for Causes This Weekend

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By SCOTT CHIUSANO

Two events will headline the women’s hockey and women’s basketball games this weekend. On Friday, when the women’s hockey team takes on Yale, the No. 6 Red will be partnering with Do It For Daron to raise money for mental health awareness. The following day, the women’s basketball and women’s hockey teams will help spread the message of Cornell’s Athlete Ally chapter — one of LGBT inclusion and acceptance for athletes of all race, sexuality and gender.

According to senior Hayleigh Cudmore — a member of Athlete Ally and also a forward for the women’s hockey team — the Do It For Daron organization was founded when the Red’s sophomore defenseman Morgan Richardson’s younger sister committed suicide. Richardson — who was 16 when her sister passed — along with her parents and her sister’s friends, created the organization to raise money for and increase awareness about mental health.

“It started as just [Daron’s] friends … and then it grew to something bigger, kind of the whole hockey community caught on,” Cudmore said. “Now it’s an event and a charity, that is widely recognized for mental health awareness.”

Bell Canada, a media company based in Quebec, helped support the cause Tuesday with its fourth annual ‘Let’s Talk’ day. Five cents were donated to mental health awareness every time #BellLetsTalk was retweeted, and the initiative raised nearly $5.5 million.

The Do it For Daron Foundation asks that fans show their support by wearing purple to Friday’s game, a color that, according to TSN’s profile of the story titled Purple Hearts, was Daron’s favorite.

Oliver Kliewe / Senior PhotographerRallying behind a cause | The women’s hockey team will support Athlete Ally in its game against Brown Saturday by wearing rainbow-colored tape on their sticks and skates.