South Bay soccer team raises money for free breast cancer screenings
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, and one Santa Clara soccer player is working to raise money on and off the field to go toward a local health program.
High school senior Rylan Cashman has been with Santa Clara Sporting Club since she was six years old. For the past 16 years, the club has been donating anywhere from $50,000 to $60,000 a year to the El Camino Health Foundation.
"When we score a goal, we take this little jar that's labeled 'Goals for a Cure Jar.' And we take it along the sidelines and all the parents contribute and throw in a dollar or five dollars. Just really anything to help," Cashman told CBS News Bay Area.
"I make bracelets and I sell them, like pink ones. Some other things we sell are like candy apples. We used to bring donuts out to my brother's games," she added.
According to the California Cancer Registry, breast cancer is the second most common form of cancer among women statewide. Officials said each year, more than 25,000 women in the state of California are diagnosed with breast cancer.
For Cashman, it's been a goal to help raise more awareness, especially among her generation.
"It brings philanthropy to the next generation. And I think that this sporting club, it focuses on obviously physical skill development and all those things. But they also want people to be good human beings and good citizens," said Andrew Cope, president of El Camino Health Foundation.
The hospital provides free mammograms, screenings and biopsies for patients who are uninsured or underinsured in the community.
"Early detection is the key. So if there is a barrier to somebody getting a screening, it makes all the difference in the world to know there's a resource in the community where they can get this important care," Cope said.
He added that with the donations from Santa Clara Sporting Club, medical personnel were able to conduct 2,000 free exams in the past 16 years.
"They have generated, over those 16 years, $615,000 of support," he said.
The club's athletes would wear pink jerseys during the month of October, and hold fundraising events for the community to join in on the fight.
And it's with the help of athletes like Cashman who community leaders said made this possible.
"Santa Clara sporting hasn't just been a club, it's been a family to me," she said. "It's always just been a part of me, always been a part of my family. Coming from two division one soccer players, their passions were soccer. And it kind of just came to me. Like, I kind of want to live on the legacy."
The varsity soccer athlete has her eyes set on another goal: she'll be on the field playing soccer at Santa Clara University, just like her parents.
"I do want to someday be a pro soccer player and I do want to be a role model to little girls. I want to be that character they can look up to," Cashman said.
