Dartmouth football not only kicked off the season with a 35-25 win over Central Connecticut State Saturday night, the team also got the ball rolling for the upcoming Dartmouth United Way campaign by donating a dollar to United Way for every adult ticket sold.
Dartmouth Athletics donated $4,500 to this year’s campaign, rounding up from the 4,478 adult tickets sold. Attendance at the game under the lights of Memorial Field totaled 7,324 spectators, including youth and Dartmouth students.
The Big Green dedicated the game to the work of Granite United Way in the Upper Valley. During the game, two United Way videos were featured on the new 23-foot-wide HD video scoreboard. There was also a halftime presentation by Dartmouth Athletic Director Harry Sheehy, President Phil Hanlon ’77, his wife, Gail Gentes, who is the Dartmouth United Way co-chair, and Granite United Way representative Katie Kobe, honoring two outstanding United Way volunteers.
Terry Osborne is a senior lecturer in environmental studies whose class “Community Building and the Environment” connects his students with work at COVER, a United Way funded non-profit that fosters hope by repairing homes in the Upper Valley. In addition, Julia Griffin, Hanover’s town manager, was recognized for her work as chair of the Granite United Way campaign cabinet.
President Hanlon and Gentes handed off Dartmouth footballs to Osborne and Griffin at midfield to cheers from the crowd.
“The halftime presentation must have inspired the Big Green,” said Deputy Athletics Director Bob Ceplikas ’78, “They rallied from a 19-14 halftime deficit for a 35-25 victory.”
Day of Caring
Earlier this month, the William Jewett Tucker Foundation partnered with Granite United Way for the Day of Caring workday.
Read more: 2013 Dartmouth United Way Surpasses Record $300,000 Goal Dartmouth United Way Responds to a Growing Need Dartmouth’s United Way Campaign Sets Ambitious Goal for 2013
Some 160 students turned out to volunteer for the day, representing a diverse cross section of the College that included Native American Studies Program students, international students, First Year Student Enrichment Program (FYSEP) students, and other volunteers. Co-Chair Gentes and Presidential Fellow Holli Weed ’14 joined the group that sorted donations and did grounds work at the Upper Valley Haven, a homeless shelter and food bank.
Students and staff volunteers fanned out, working on projects that included painting at Child and Family Services, window washing at the Good Neighbor Health Clinic, and trail work with the Upper Valley Trails Alliance on the grounds of Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital.
All this work comes in advance of the 2014 Dartmouth United Way Campaign, which officially begins next week. See slideshow on Dartmouth’s flickr site.
