Coaches vs. Cancer has become a preeminent fundraising effort by college basketball coaches, but another advocacy effort could soon catch up.
For the second straight year, Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski will participate in Coaches Powering Forward for Autism by donning a blue puzzle piece pin as the No. 4 Blue Devils host No. 10 Notre Dame Saturday at 1 p.m. at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
Coaches Powering Forward for Autism is a campaign led by coaches Pat Skerry and Tom Herrion—who started it last year to raise awareness because both have sons with autism—in conjunction with Autism Speaks, the leading organization for autism advocacy in the world.
Autism Speaks partners with many universities to raise awareness and has set up fundraising teams for each school, and unlike last year when it wasn't able to engage much with students before Krzyzewski wore the pin at Syracuse, this time around Autism Speaks U Duke has big plans for students planning to attend Saturday's game.
“Our group is going to be outside during the line-up for the Notre Dame game and we’re going to be passing out stickers, tattoos and free doughnuts to all of the Kville [residents]," Manoj Kanagaraj, President of Autism Speaks U Duke, said. "Once the game starts, not only will Coach K be there supporting autism awareness, but hopefully some of the Cameron Crazies can be too.”
Currently, Krzyzewski's team is second on the leaderboard as each university team tries to raise $6,800 to represent the one in 68 children that suffer from autism. Duke's team has raised $1,050 to this point and trails first-place Appalachian State by just $35.
Kanagaraj said that between Krzyzewski's pin and his organization's pregame efforts, "I’m sure that we’ll take the lead by the end of this thing," and also noted that Autism Speaks U Duke has reached out to the K-ville Line Monitors and Mental Health Awareness Month leaders through Duke Student Government to spread the word.
Anyone wanting to donate to help Duke get to first place on the leaderboard and reach its goal of $6,800 can do so here:
http://events.autismspeaks.org/faf/search/searchTeamPart.asp?ievent=1125016&lis=1&team=6261749
The fundraising goals are obviously important to the organization, but Kanagaraj also noted that at the end of the day, advocacy and awareness are probably the most important results of the Coaches Powering Forward Program, as "essentially everyone [around the country]" participates.
“Hopefully we’re getting the word out about how important it is to know what autism is considering one in [68] children are affected with it," he said.
Keep up with the Blue Zone for continued coverage of this developing story and for all your team news ahead of Duke-Notre Dame and follow us on Twitter @dukebasketball for the latest updates.
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