University of North Carolina Athletics
Hatchell's Blueberry Patch Prepped For 2015
April 14, 2015 | Women's Basketball
On Saturday, April 11, 2015, UNC women's basketball coach Sylvia R. Hatchell hosted the UNC Lineberger Cancer Center blueberry patch workday at her mountain house located between Black Mountain and Fairview, North Carolina.
At her mountain place, Coach Hatchell has a blueberry patch that includes 250 bushes. All proceeds and collections go directly to the world-renowned Lineberger Cancer Center on the campus of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. Coach Hatchell herself was treated at the Cancer Center in 2013 and 2014 for Leukemia.
Over 60 volunteers put out mulch, trimmed bushes, pulled weeds, moved grass and performed various other jobs in getting the bushes ready for the growing season.
“It was a beautiful day in the mountains where a wonderful group of people had fun working together to fight cancer. It truly was a very special day,” said Coach Hatchell.
Blueberries are one of the healthiest cancer fighting foods that you can eat. The blueberry patch is an honor system where people come pick blueberries and mail their money directly to the Lineberger Cancer Center. The money collected is being used to fix up two rooms at the cancer hospital where cancer patients can exercise before, after and/or during treatments. It's been proven by many cancer patients, including coach Hatchell, that exercise assists in the cancer fight during treatments. And it always makes you feel better!
Coach Hatchell wants to thank everyone who came out to help, especially the women's and men's basketball coaches and players from Montreat College, and athletic department administrators and personnel from UNC Asheville.
Also a thank you goes out to Hatchell's friends and family from Gastonia, North Carolina, UNC fans, nurses from Lineberger Cancer Center, mountain friends and neighbors, and members of Nesbitt United Methodist Church in Fairview.
After the work was completed, coach Hatchell fed everyone lunch and everyone received a UNC Lineberger Cancer Blueberry Patch t-shirt.
