Volleyball Tournament Tonight Benefits Sandy Victims

The district’s volleyball tournament fundraiser tonight is open to the public and all proceeds will go to Restore the Shore, a non-profit whose funding goes to Hurricane Sandy relief.

Started by two Cinnaminson Middle School staff members, the tournament was started to do a little more than the normal collection of money or canned goods.

“After the devastation of the shore, a lot of teachers and students were affected and we brainstormed ideas of what we can do to make money,” said Lynda Acchitelli, middle school counselor.

She and Jill DeMaio, Spanish teacher, approached the school board for permission and decided on a volleyball tournament.

“Cinnaminson is known for its charity,” DeMaio said. “We’re always doing something here. This is just the perfect example of it because it affects our community in a major way. We wanted to do something that would be fun to get everybody involved.”

At 7 p.m. tonight, at the middle school, they will host the volleyball tournament featuring faculty members from each district school and the high school volleyball teams.

Every player bought their own Cinnaminson Pirates Restore the Shore t-shirts. The home and school association will be selling baked goods. All proceeds benefit Restore the Shore.

More than 500 t-shirts total were ordered from students and staff in just about two weeks, the amount of time this event was put together.

“The community really dropped everything and came together to get this done,” DeMaio said. “This shows what kind of community we are.”

Admission is open to the public and tickets are $5.