Number of Participants: 40
Hours Donated: 10
Value of Time Served: $3,380
Event Type: Health & Medicine
Sport: Ice Hockey
School: Oswego High School
Date: January 16, 2024
Location:
Oswego High School
Buccaneer Boulevard, Oswego
NY
About:
To tell the story of our TEAL Night is not a short one to say the least. It starts with my sister Mary Gosek who was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer in 2012. My sister was a huge advocate, supporter and fan of hockey. Her husband is the Head Coach of Oswego State Men’s Ice Hockey. He started his coaching career in the Oswego Minor Hockey Association when they were only about 18 years old. He coached many of the parents of our current group of hockey players (both boys and girls). When Oswego started a girls hockey program my sister was a huge proponent of growing girls in the game and helping the girls grow their confidence through sports. When Mary was diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer she found little support for either herself or her husband (as caregiver). So, Mary, along with a dear friend of hers, created her own foundation and named it Peaceful Remedies.
Peaceful Remedies was created to improve the healing experience for those impacted by life altering illnesses by bringing holistic options of therapy and support to individuals in a safe and peaceful environment. Through our events & programs they provide support services that complement treatments, support caregivers, patients and their families.
As for TEAL Night, these nights began in 2017 after my sister was taken from us on June 3, 2017. TEAL stands for “Tell Every Amazing Lady” and it is part of a national initiative to encourage people to wear teal on Tuesdays to raise awareness for Ovarian Cancer; The Cancer that Whispers / The Silent Killer.
Our Oswego community has been incredible about supporting and growing awareness for Ovarian Cancer and in supporting Peaceful Remedies’ work in providing a safe place for everyone struggling with a life altering disease. As a result, we have several TEAL events each year and the volunteers that help us at each of these events are always our hockey players. I can’t honestly say how many because if I ask for help they are all always willing to step up. They help with everything we need from set up, to promotional activities, to fundraising, distribution of teal shirts and overall raising awareness about the symptoms of ovarian cancer that for most women remain undiagnosed until the cancer has progressed to Stage 3c or later.
On December 19th our boys varsity hockey team celebrated TEAL Night where the team wore teal jerseys and we held a raffle and handed out teal t-shirts with donations of any amount to spectators. We raised nearly $400 that night for Peaceful Remedies. This was the 6th year that the team has had a TEAL Night.
I would be remiss if I didn’t also share that on October 17th our girls volleyball program had a “Dig Pink Spike Teal” event with their local rival; raising another roughly $400 for Peaceful Remedies. In the Fall of 2021 our girls varsity soccer team also held a TEAL Night and raised over $900 for Ovarian Cancer Awareness. Our girls hockey program has also celebrated with TEAL Nights in years past.
I hope this shares some insight into how AMAZING our student athletes are! They understand that cancer impacts all of us and “No One Fights Alone”. They all support these events for Peaceful Remedies because they all know that if it’s not their immediate battle now it may be someday and they want to support Peaceful Remedies to insure our community continues to provide these resources to the families impacted by the awful disease of cancer.
I can’t say enough about the parents of these young athletes and how they have encouraged, supported and transported their kids to when and where they need to be to be a part of the rally behind Peaceful Remedies. TEAL events are just one piece of the foundation but the engagement speaks very loudly to the love and affection of the hockey community to the legacy my sister Mary and her husband Ed Gosek established during their youth experiences in hockey.