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Ashland rallies for one of its own The Ashland High School volleyball team's Dig Pink breast cancer fundraiser Oct. 4 will benefit Ingrid Hansen, a second-grade teacher at Bellview Elementary who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Contributed photo Sunday Oct 2, 2016 at 3:46 PM Oct 2, 2016 at 3:47 PM Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings @Joe_Zavala99 Ashland High School volleyball fans are always hopeful that the students and community will show up en masse for a big match at Mountain Avenue Gym, but on Tuesday their motivations go far beyond the Grizzlies’ Midwestern League clash with rival Crater. That’s because this year the team’s annual Dig Pink match, for which the Grizzlies wear pink uniforms to recognize breast cancer awareness month, will double as a massive, all-hands-on-deck fundraiser to benefit Bellview Elementary second-grade teacher Ingrid Hansen, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Admission fees from the 6:30 p.m. match will go directly to Hansen’s benefit fund, as will the cash from a silent auction and a raffle. The prizes, in terms of value, range from big to bigger: a four-course dinner for a party of eight at Beasy’s on the Creek; a Swiss watch from Gold & Gems; a Samsung Galaxy Pro tablet; season tickets to two sports at Southern Oregon University; two nights in a cabin on the Sacramento River. And many, many more. “We want to pack the house,” Ashland High athletic director Karl Kemper said. A GoFundMe account was also set up (bit.ly/2dwvHzI). As of Sunday afternoon, six days in, 30 people had donated $3,195 toward a $10,000 goal. Also, Southern Oregon University is donating half the proceeds from Saturday night's volleyball match against Eastern Oregon University. After Hansen was diagnosed about four weeks ago, her friends and ASD colleagues, Serena Robinson and Lindsay Gates, who teamed up to start the school’s first Dig Pink fundraiser six years ago, sprang into action. They called the coaches from both teams and told them the plan (raffle winners will be announced during every time-out), pulled in three AHS volleyball players to help as part of their senior project, created a Facebook event page and began emailing and calling potential donors. Robinson said once she explained who the donations would benefit and why, the rest was easy. “The thing is, she’s been in this community for so long that once we got the word out about the event and that we were looking for donations, they’ve been pouring in,” she said. “People have been contacting me.” A lifetime Ashlander, Hansen attended Lincoln Elementary and graduated from Ashland High School in 1985 before embarking on a teaching career. She’s been teaching in the district for 24 years and has two sons — Billy, a graduate student at Regis University in Denver, Colorado, and Jake, a senior at AHS. Though Hansen is a “private person” who’s still getting used to being on the receiving end of a massive fundraising drive, the community’s help is much appreciated, Robinson said. The funds, she explained, will help offset a sudden increase in medical expenses and will also help cover unpaid leave, as Hansen isn’t expected back at Bellview until after the winter break. Some of Hansen’s former students praised her as a teacher who has a knack for making school fun. “I remember she was very enthusiastic with her teaching,” said Ashland High senior Nicky Weinberg, who was in Hansen’s fourth-grade class at Bellview. “She was very into it. She really connected with the students. She’s a great teacher.” Weinberg still remembers a Hansen class project called Oregon Road Trip. “It was kind of like a simulation of the students going on a road trip across Oregon,” he said, “and we had to choose a car, figure out gas mileage, budget our trip, find different restaurants in Oregon. She made it really fun.” Sarah Aaronson, an Ashland High sophomore, was a student in Hansen’s fifth-grade class and loved her. “She’s just really enthusiastic and extremely nice,” Aaronson said. “She found really fun ways to teach us about different things. Like at the end of the day we had certain favorite songs that we would all sing together at the end of class. It felt really community-like in her classroom.” Aaronson found out about Hansen’s diagnosis last week when she received a text from her mom. “I was pretty shocked because I haven’t really had someone who I knew who had cancer in my life yet,” she said. “But I also wasn’t too worried because I feel like of the people I know she would definitely be somebody to make it through it. She’s gained such a support system because she’s such a great person.” Joe Zavala is a reporter for the Ashland Daily Tidings. Reach him at 541-821-0829 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @Joe_Zavala99.