Sports Outdoors

submitted by Bill McGovern
The Hoosick Falls girls lacrosse team in only its second year of competition battled the more experienced Mount Anthony team Friday afternoon, May 20, at the Panthers’ athletic field. Trailing 13 to 5 in the second half, the Hoosick Falls team was mounting a comeback when the game was halted by thunder and lightning. Despite coming up short in the final score the girls were successful in raising nearly $300 to benefit the Karen McGovern Fund as part of the Coaches Against Cancer Program. Lisa Ferrannini, coach of the Hoosick Falls squad, presented Karen’s mother Barbara McGovern with the funds during a halftime ceremony.

St. Stanislaw Poker Run
The following day the St. Stanislaw Society in Hoosick Falls sponsored what has become an annual motorcycle poker run and elected to donate this years proceeds to Karen’s Fund. The Society has been a major donor to the fund over the last ten years. This year the poker run drew nearly 50 cyclists and was co-chaired by Don and Donna Armstrong.
The fund honors Karen, who died in 2000 from cancer. In the summer of that year a few of her friends organized a volleyball tournament to help raise funds for people in the Hoosick Falls area struggling to meet expenses as a result of serious illness. The tournament proved so successful that it was decided to hold the event every year. The Fund has raised nearly $150,000 since that time and working with the Rensselaer County Council For Health and Human Services, Inc. has distributed every dollar it has raised to people in need. There are no administrative or other charges deducted from the fund.