This upcoming Saturday (Feb. 12) the Macalester Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC) is hosting Pink Zone during the women 1 p.m. game vs. Hamline at the Leonard Center. Macalester is one of over 1,600 teams and organizations participating in the WBCA Pink Zone initiative this month.

Donations for breast cancer research are being collected in the Leonard Center throughout the week and during the games. All donations will go to the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Kay Yow Cancer Fund.

Macalester's SAAC will be accepting donations for a halftime show at the fans entrance to Alumni Gymnasium, and are encouraged to wear pink.

Pink Zone (formerly "Think Pink") is an initiative by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) to raise awareness about breast cancer and to raise money for breast cancer research. It began in 2007 with about 120 schools and grew to over 1,200 teams in 2008, raising more than $930,000 for breast cancer research. The 2009 campaign raised over $1.3 million, reached over 912,000 fans, and unified more that 1,6000 participating teams and organizations.

The WBCA's charity of choice is the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund, in partnership with the V Foundation. This initiative is in honor of Kay Yow, the head women's basketball coach at North Carolina State from 1975 - 2009 and coach for the 1988 USA women's Olympic team that won gold. Kay Yow passed away January 24th 2009 after battling breast cancer for the third time since 1987. Her accomplishments on and off the court revealed her dedication to both her players and finding a cure for the cancer she battled. She was a co-founder of the WBCA as well as the Kay Yow / WBCA Cancer Fund.

SAAC will be doing a halftime fundraiser for pink zone where we will sell pink pieces of paper for a dollar and whomever makes them into a plane and flies it closest to midcourt will win a prize. The prizes are provided by funds from SAAC.

Donations will be accepted at the table at the main fan entrance until halftime, and all proceeds from paper sales will be donated to the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.