2017-18 Highlights
This was another great year for SquashCares. Some of the highlights include:
- Sewing 36 more blankets this year and giving them away to individuals and organizations servicing people with ADHD and autism;
- Engaging over 200 volunteers at five sewing events;
- Extending the reach of SquashCares outside the Boston area to Providence, Groton, Framingham State and South Africa;
- Collecting over 6,900 dead squash balls for recycling from over 25 clubs, schools and college teams;
- Holding our second College Collection Contest (special shoutout to Hamilton College for winning the competition for the second year in a row!); and
- Collecting 180 pieces of squash equipment for 4 urban squash programs;
- Working with a documentary filmmaker to produce a documentary about SquashCares.
Ball Collection
This year we collected 6,905 balls!
Thanks to these great clubs and schools who hosted collection bins for SquashCares this year – Dana Hall School, The Maugus Club, Hamilton College, St. Paul’s School, Cross Courts Squash, Williams College, Harvard University, The Hopkins School, Pomfret School, and Newton Squash and Tennis.
Contributors this year included:
New York Athletic Club – 1406 balls
Westchester Country Club – 250 balls
Nobles – 100 balls
Newton Squash and Tennis – 477 balls
Newport Steamer Squash Tournament – 45 balls
Maugus Club – 145 balls
Hamilton College – 53 balls
University Club – 265 balls
Dana Hall School – 51 balls
Concord-Acton Squash Club – 537 balls
Agawam Hunt Club – 212 balls
Brown University – 97 balls
Cross Courts Squash and Fitness Center – 96 balls
Westchester Life Time Athletic Club – 309 balls
Rhode Island Country Club – 180 balls
Moses Brown/Nicol Squash Club – 297 balls
Pete Avitable – 377 balls
NEPSAC Girls “A’ Tournament and teams – 413 balls
CSA College National Championships
Harvard University – 106 balls
Middlebury College – 293 balls
Vassar College – 167 balls
Hamilton College – 400 balls
Connecticut College – 79 balls
Dickinson College – 61 balls
Unidentified – 391 balls
Kudos to our Ambassador Charlotte Bell for collecting almost 400 balls from tournaments and squash camps this past summer and to Barrett Gallo for spearheading collection of over 1,000 balls in Rhode Island!
Ball Blankets
This year we sewed at least 36 ball blankets at five sewing events.
Our big push this year was to expand our ball blanket sewing presence outside the Boston area. The community service club of Rhode Island School of Design heldsewing events during their Wintersession and sewed 3 blankets. Hope Prockop ran sewing at the Groton School and sewed 4 blankets. We continued our partnership with Framingham State University which sewed 5 blankets.
Dana Hall School
On April 21, 2018, we held our Fourth Annual Sewing Event at Dana Hall. This event was sponsored by US Squash, ’47 Brand, and Adam Richins Photography. We sewed a record number of 24 blankets with a record number of 130 volunteers! 3,200 balls were recycled into ball blankets, which will be donated to organizations who service people with developmental disabilities.
Framingham State University
Our first five blankets this year were sewn by students in the Functional Design class at FSU. Professor Pamela Sebor-Cable organized her students to sew these blankets, which will be donated to the Lurie Center for Autism at the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children and to patients at Bay State Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Egoli Squash – South Africa
SquashCares is going international! We are pleased to announce that we will be using our Disney Friends for Change Grant to fund shipment of fleece to Egoli Squash in South Africa! Egoli Squash was established in 2009 in South Africa to focus on an intensive and long term program: incorporating squash, fitness, tutoring, community service, and mentoring in order to change children’s lives for the better.
We will be partnering with the Sew Egoli Project which empowers girls and women involved in squash with sewing skills. Egoli Squash has set up ball collection points at various squash clubs in South Africa, and members of their sewing program will use the supplies we send them and balls they collect to produce ball blankets, which they will donate free of cost to local organizations that service people with ADHD and autism.
Rhode Island School of Design
The RISD Community Service Club sewed three ball blankets for SquashCares during Wintersession. RISD is currently looking to donate these blankets to people with ADHD and Autism in the Providence area. We are thankful for their involvement and the expansion of SquashCares.
Groton School
Led by the incomparable Hope Prockop, Groton students produced four ball blankets during a number of sewing events this winter. These blankets will be distributed to individuals and organizations nearby.
Equipment
We collect 180 pieces of equipment this year for distribution to urban squash programs – 90 rackets, 24 pairs of shoes, 54 pieces of clothing, 6 squash bags and 9 pairs of goggles. Special thanks to Dunlop Sports for contributing 45 rackets!
This year we continued to collect equipment for SquashBusters, Squash Haven and CitySquash. In addition, we have added a fourth recipient of equipment – SquashSmarts in Philadelphia.
Our first collection event this year was at the Women’s Squash Week events in Stamford at Chelsea Piers, at Murr Center at Harvard and at Dartmouth College.