Field Hockey Teams Collecting for Hurricane Victims

As people continue to recover from Hurricane Sandy, dealing with no power and a lack of supplies, some local students are taking the time to give back to their communities.

Members of the Bridgewater-Raritan High School and Hillsborough High School field hockey teams, in connection with the Bridgewater-Raritan girls and boys soccer teams, will be collecting canned food at all their Tuesday games to donate to the Food Bank Network of Somerset County.

"Why [are we doing this]?" said Kathie DeBonis, coach of the Bridgewater field hockey teams. "Because we can."

On Friday, DeBonis, speaking with Hillsborough coach Lyndsay Boettke, decided they should do some kind of project together.

"We thought it would be a great idea for the two teams to do something together," DeBonis said. "We then pitched it to our teams, and they were 100 perent on board."

Bridgewater-Raritan field hockey captains Nicole Braun, Catherine Caro and Rachel Yaney then decided to pitch the idea to the school's boys and girls soccer teams, and they were also on board.

"This is because of the hurricane," DeBonis said. "Currently, this is a one-time event, but we will evaluate it after Tuesday."

DeBonis said all teams are playing a state game at Bridgewater on Tuesday, with Bridgewater-Raritan and Hillsborough field hockey facing off, and soccer games at 2 p.m. and 4 p.m.

"Donations will be accepted before and after the games," she said.

Everything collected will go to the Food Bank Network of Somerset County to help those in need following the hurricane.