Jan. 15, 2010

Melillo, Elon spearhead "Pinch Hit for Haiti"

Elon senior catcher Mike Melillo wanted to help with the Haitian relief efforts following Tuesday’s devastating earthquake.

Melillo and the Phoenix have challenged every NCAA collegiate baseball team to donate money to the Red Cross in a “Pinch Hit for Haiti” initiative. Fans are also encouraged to make a donation.

An attempt was made to contact every NCAA Division I, II and III program on Thursday.

As programs donate money, totals for teams and states will be updated on the Elon Phoenix web site at www.elon.edu/e-web/athletics/pinchitforhaiti.xhtml.

Donations can be made to the Haiti Relief and Development fund at www.redcross.org. A donation of $10 can be made via a mobile phone by texting ‘Haiti’ to 90999.

Individuals can have their donations added to that of the their favorite team by emailing their name, amount of their donation, Red Cross tracking ID number and name of the team they support to PinchHitforHaiti@gmail.com.

The running total for schools will be updated daily through the end of February.