On Saturday, Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEP) and Delta Phi Epsilon (DPE) invited the UB community to participate in its first annual dodge ball tournament to raise money for the Blue4Ben campaign.
In early February 2014, 4-year-old Buffalo resident Benjamin Sauer was diagnosed with Stage IV Glioblastoma, a malignant and aggressive brain tumor. After a couple of weeks, his chemotherapy and radiation treatments were discontinued as the tumor tripled in size.
On May 13, 2014, Ben died.
Ben’s mother, Mindy Sauer, chronicled the family’s journey on a blog that gained media attention. They credit their Christian faith for keeping them strong throughout Ben’s illness.
The Blue4Ben campaign, a community response to the Sauer’s journey, was originally intended to help support Ben’s medical expenses and other financial needs of the Sauer family. Now, any money raised will be donated to Roswell Park, Make a Wish and other children’s charities that support similar causes to Blue4Ben.
The color blue was used the charity’s symbol because that was the color his mother used to dress him in to distinguish him from his twin brother, Jack.
Andy Sauer, Ben’s father, and Jack attended the dodge ball tournament. Ben’s father participated in one game during the start of the tournament. He said he was thankful for all of those that came out in support of the campaign.
Joshua Grove, a junior marketing major and philanthropy chair of AEP, was one of the organizers of the dodge ball tournament. He said everyone at the event, including himself, was thrilled to see Andy and Jack drop by for part of the tournament. He said it was nice to see them connect with the community, while also “bringing a little community to UB.”
A total of 18 teams participated in the tournament, six more than the number of teams that registered prior to the event. Grove said he felt the tournament went smoothly and called it an “absolute success.”
Each team required six starters but was allowed a maximum of four bench players. In order to win a game, the team must eliminate all the opposing players or have a greater number of players remaining after the three minutes of regulation time. The final was decided by best two out of three games, where the first team to win two of them were the overall winners.
“It was a perfect day,” Grove said. “[I’m] absolutely speechless that many people came out and it worked perfectly. Couldn’t have picked a better day and a better charity to work with.”
The winning team of the tournament was Skyzone.
Jason Fialkowski, a senior computer science major and team captain of Skyzone, said participating in the tournament took the team “far back” to when they played in many previous tournaments together. He said it felt good to come out and “play for a good cause.”
Josh Grayson, a freshman business administration major, was a part of the Average Joes, which earned third place in the tournament. He said most members were from the Lancaster area and the news of Ben was big in their community.
Thomas Kurowski, a freshman mechanical engineer major, played for the Average Joes’ and admitted the team only knew of the tournament one day before it happened.
“We were looking forward to it ever since we heard about it, which was yesterday,” said Kurowski. “So we registered as soon as we could, got the money, and killed it out here. It was a great time.”
Emanuella Vradis, a senior legal studies and history major and vice president of programming at DPE, also helped organize the event. She was pleased to see the event exceed expectations. She said Andy inspired and reminded everyone at the games why they were supporting the Blue4Ben campaign.
Each team was required to pay $30 for registration at the tournament. In addition to the money raised through team registration fees, drinks and snacks were sold to help raise more for the charity. T-shirts with logos of the tournament were also sold to commemorate the event.
Brandon Werner, a senior business administration major and treasurer of AEP, was in charge of the expenses and money raised from the event. He said he hopes for AEP and DPE to continue hosting an event in honor of Ben.
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