UW-Milwaukee men's soccer brings hurricane relief effort to home field

Oct. 9, 2005

MILWAUKEE (Oct. 9, 2005) - The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men's soccer team will continue their tradition of charity this Wednesday afternoon when they take to the field to play UIC. The team will be wearing special commemorative American Red Cross Puma jerseys that they will be auctioning off afterwards to help support the ongoing hurricane relief efforts.

"This type of charity game is something that we try to do as often as we can," UWM head coach Louis Bennett said. "With the events that have occurred, it seems only fitting that we do something with the Red Cross."

The Panthers started the tradition in 2001 to honor the September 11th tragedy. They wore special one-time kits again in 2003 to raise money for the MACC fund. The team will hold the Hurricane Katrina benefit match on Oct. 12 against UIC in a Horizon League contest at Engelmann Field. The game is scheduled for a 3 p.m. start and will see the Panthers wearing a red, white and blue jersey with the logo of the American Red Cross appearing on the front.

According to the Red Cross website, Hurricane Katrina relief efforts will exceed $2 billion, meeting the urgent needs of nearly one million families in three key areas -- food and shelter, emergency financial assistance to disaster survivors, and physical and mental health services.

Fans will be able to bid through the end of the game on the jerseys of all the players and the coaches, with bids starting at $200. Fans may bid via email through Tuesday by emailing Stan Anderson at standrsn@uwm.edu. Bidding on Wednesday will need to be done directly at Engelmann Field. A special designated area will be announced prior to and during the match on where the postgame auction will conclude.

All proceeds will go directly to the Greater Milwaukee Chapter of the American Red Cross. Fans wishing to donate directly to the organization will be able to do so at the game as well.

"The catalyst for this effort was [UWM associate head coach] Stan Anderson," Bennett said. "When he brought the idea to me I thought it was a fantastic one. Hopefully we can raise a bunch of money for the cause."

Special thanks goes out to Matt Lancor, Bill Earl and Pat O'Brien at Puma for supplying the jerseys and to Anne and Dan Nowakowski at Stefans Soccer Supply for the printing of them.

"The night after the storm hit, Coach Bennett and I spoke about the possibility of doing this," Stan Anderson said. "With the relief efforts being ongoing, the timing of this match works well."

For further information please call Anderson at 414-229-4498 or email him at standrsn@uwm.edu. Fans can find out more about the Red Cross at www.redcross.org. The Milwaukee-UIC match-up will start at 3:00 p.m. atEngelmann Field on the UWM campus.

Story provided by UW-Milwaukee Sports Information