ELON, N.C. ? As of Tuesday afternoon, the “Pinch Hit for Haiti” effort spearheaded by Elon senior catcher Mike Melillo has seen a total of $12,004 donated to the Red Cross towards relief efforts in the island nation which was ravaged by a 7.0 earthquake.
As of Tuesday afternoon’s update, schools from 27 different states and Washington, D.C. had donated towards the cause. A total of 60 different schools were represented. Donations in the name of Elon total $3,659 while Charlotte checks in with $1,076 towards the total. Sacramento State in California added $1,200 to the total after donating the proceeds from their first-ever Martin Luther King Jr. Day Fundamentals Camp toward the project.
Stories which have aired on local television as well as an updated map of where donations have come from can be found at www.elonphoenix.com.
The Elon baseball team has challenged every NCAA collegiate baseball team to donate money to the Red Cross as part of the “Pinch Hit for Haiti” initiative. Fans are also encouraged to make a donation.
After thinking about the amount of money that could be raised if every athlete gave just $1, Melillo came up with the “Pinch Hit for Haiti” concept. “The idea is to pay it forward because we’re not in a situation to physically help,” said Melillo. “We want to offer our help in any way we can. Although our donations may be small individually, we feel that collectively as student-athletes our support will be of great assistance.”
The 7.0 earthquake in Haiti has had an effect on nearly 3,000,000 people in the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The capital city of Port-au-Prince was nearly leveled and many people are still missing. Estimates have casualties numbering in the 10s of thousands.
Steps to joining Pinch Hit for Haiti:
As a team:
1. An individual from your school collects $1.00 from each member of the team.
2. That individual visits www.redcross.org and donates the amount collected via credit or debit card.
3. Once the process has been completed, Red Cross will provide you with a page that has your tracking number, name, and the amount donated.
4. Copy the information and paste it into an email document.
5. Email the information along with your team/school name to pinchhitforhaiti@gmail.com
6. Pay it forward and tell as many student-athletes as you can about our objective.
As an individual:
1.Visit www.redcross.org and donates the amount collected via credit or debit card.
2. Once the process has been completed, Red Cross will provide you with a page that has your tracking number, name, and the amount donated.
3. Copy the information and paste it into an email document.
4. Email the information along with the school you cheer for or the school you wish to represent to pinchhitforhaiti@gmail.com
5. Pay it forward and tell as many people as you can about our objective.
As of Tuesday afternoon, here is the list of programs represented:
Alabama: Auburn, Samford, Troy
Arkansas: Hendrix
California: Cal State Northridge, Sacramento State, San Diego State, San Francisco
Connecticut: Connecticut, Fairfield
Florida: Central Florida, Florida, South Florida
Georgia: Georgia Southern
Hawaii: Hawaii
Illinois: Southern Illinois
Indiana: Butler, Indiana State
Iowa: Iowa Wesleyan, Northwestern College
Kentucky: Louisville
Louisiana: Louisiana State
Maine: Maine
Massachusetts: Northeastern, Stonehill, Tufts
Nevada: UNLV
New Jersey: Princeton, Rutgers
New York: LeMoyne, Siena, Stony Brook
North Carolina: Charlotte, Duke, East Carolina, Elon, North Carolina, UNC Greensboro, North Carolina State, Wake Forest, Baseball America
Ohio: Ohio, Youngstown State
Pennsylvania: Eastern, Gettysburg, Grove City
Rhode Island: Rhode Island
South Carolina: Coastal Carolina, College of Charleston, Furman, South Carolina, USC Upstate, Winthrop, Wofford
South Dakota: Sioux Falls
Texas: Texas Southern
Virginia: Virginia, Virginia Tech
Washington: Washington
Washington, D.C.: Georgetown
West Virginia: West Virginia