Our Season 2 Volleyball athletes and their causes

Here are the organizations our volleyball athletes are playing for during Season 2.

&Mother: &Mother is dedicated to breaking the barriers that limit a woman’s choice to pursue and thrive in both career and motherhood.

• Sheilla Castro

1% for the Planet: 1% for the Planet is a global organization that exists to ensure our planet and future generations thrive. We inspire businesses and individuals to support environmental nonprofits through membership and everyday actions. 

• Lindsay Stalzer
• Noami Santos-Lamb

22 Oats Strong Foundation: Helping families stay strong. Through steady action, we assist and support families of young stroke victims.

• Leah Edmond

4MOM: 4MOM’s mission is to unite professional athletes, coaches, patients, caregivers, and the community in the fight for the world’s first survivor of Alzheimer’s, by advancing awareness, supporting caregivers, and funding research. 

• Lianna Sybeldon

Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation (ACCRF): ACCRF accelerates the development of improved therapies and a cure for patient with adenoid cystic carcinoma.

• Taylor Morgan

American Foundation for Suicide Prevention: The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention is dedicated to saving lives and bringing hope to those affected by suicide. AFSP creates a culture that’s smart about mental health through education and community programs, develops suicide prevention through research and advocacy, and provides support for those affected by suicide. 

• Carli Lloyd
• Taylor Bruns Tegenrot

American Lung Association: The American Lung Association’s mission is to save lives by improving lung health and preventing lung disease. We do this through education, advocacy, and research. Our goals are big – defeat lung cancer, create a tobacco- free future, champion clean air for all, and improve the quality of life for those living with lung disease. Because when you can’t breathe, nothing else matters.

• Hana Lishman

Autism Speaks: Autism Speaks is enhancing lives tod​ay and accelerating a spectrum of solutions for tomorrow.

• Morgan Hentz

Baby2Baby: Baby2Baby, a non-profit organization led by Co-CEOs Kelly Sawyer Patricof and Norah Weinstein, provides children living in poverty with diapers, clothing and all the basic necessities that every child deserves. In the last 10 years, Baby2Baby has distributed over 150 million items — more than any organization of its kind — to children in homeless shelters, domestic violence programs, foster care, hospitals and underserved schools as well as children who have lost everything in the wake of disaster. Since the COVID-19 crisis began, Baby2Baby has served over one million children across the country impacted by the pandemic. 

• Natalia Valentin-Anderson

Black Girls Code: Launched in 2011, Black Girls CODE (BGC) is devoted to showing the world that black girls can code, and do so much more. By reaching out to the community through workshops, hackathons and after-school programs, Black Girls CODE introduces computer programming and technology to girls from underrepresented communities in technology areas such as web design, robotics, gaming, mobile app development and more. By cultivating the next generation of developers, we hope to grow the number of women of color in technology and give underrepresented girls a chance to become the future leaders in technology and the masters of their technological worlds. Black Girls CODE aspires to teach 1 million girls of color to code by 2040.

• Erica Wilson
• Falyn Fonoimoana
• Naya Crittenden

Compassion International: Compassion International releases children from poverty in Jesus’ name. That is their mission. Through a holistic approach to child development, they carefully blend physical, social, economic and spiritual care together…in Jesus’ name.

• Tori Dilfer
• Dani Drews

Endometriosis Foundation of America: The Endometriosis Foundation of America strives to increase disease recognition, provide advocacy, facilitate expert surgical training, and fund landmark endometriosis research. Engaged in a robust campaign to inform both the medical community and the public, the EndoFound places particular emphasis on the critical importance of early diagnosis and effective intervention while simultaneously providing education to the next generation of medical professionals and their patients.

• Madison Villines

Epilepsy Foundation Greater Los Angeles: The Epilepsy Foundation Greater Los Angeles shares the nationwide mission — to lead the fight to overcome the challenges of living with epilepsy and to accelerate therapies to stop seizures, find cures, and save lives. We fulfill our mission locally by leading the fight to End Epilepsy® by focusing on care, advocacy, research and education.

• Jamie Peterson

Frosted Faces Foundation: Frosted Faces Foundation is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that delivers the promise of family and quality veterinary care for senior animals whose love and lives are in jeopardy. 

• Taylor Fricano

GiGi’s Playhouse: GiGi’s Playhouse Annapolis, a Down Syndrome Achievement Center, provides free educational and therapeutic-based, purposeful and progressive programs, for individuals with Down syndrome of all ages and their families.

• Ray Santos

Girl Rising: Girl Rising is a non-profit working in 12 countries to advance girls right to a quality education. In partnership with more than 130 location partners we develop educational resources and train educators to help adolescent girls develop the life skills to pursue their highest aspirations; and engage caregivers, families and community members to help break the barriers that hold girls back.

• Eri Xue

InterAction: Led by young Black, Indigenous, & People of Color (BIPOC), InterAction educates and uplifts young BIPOC to heal from racial trauma, re-write dominant narratives, and build a future free from oppression.

• Alisha Glass Childress

Kapiolani Children’s Miracle Network: Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children has been Hawaii’s only Children’s Miracle Network hospital since 1984. Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals is a nonprofit organization dedicated to saving and improving the lives of children by raising funds for children’s hospitals across North America. One-hundred percent of the money raised in Hawaii stays here to help our keiki, regardless of a family’s ability to pay. Your gifts support meaningful programs that otherwise would not be possible.

• Kalei Mau

Michael J Fox Foundation: The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research is dedicated to finding a cure for Parkinson’s disease through funded research and ensuring the development of improved therapies for those living with Parkinson’s today.

• Tina Boe
• Val Nichol

Morgan’s Message: Morgan’s Message strives to eliminate the stigma surrounding mental health within the student-athlete community and equalize the treatment of physical and mental health in athletics. We aim to expand the dialogue on mental health by normalizing conversations, empowering those who suffer in silence, and supporting those who feel alone.

• Nomaris Vélez Agosto

One Love Foundation: One Love educates young people about healthy and unhealthy relationships, empowering them to identify and avoid abuse and learn how to love better.

• Amanda Benson
• Niki Withers

Operation Underground Railroad: Operation Underground Railroad exists to rescue children from sex trafficking and sexual exploitation. 

• Jenna Rosenthal
• Rachael Fara

P/ATH: By using engaging stories from influential role models, P/ATH unlocks the full potential of sports programs to increase empathy, equity, and empowerment in the rising generation. 

• Cassidy Lichtman

Players for Pits: Players for Pits guiding mission is to save discarded pit bull type dogs that end up at our local open access animal controls in Chicago and the suburbs. We strive to give dogs another chance to become an integral part of our communities by matching them with families that will advocate and love them for forever. Our goal is to decrease the amount of pit bull type dogs dying in our local shelters and help Chicago & the entire nation become no-kill.

• Taylor Sandbothe

Sisters Network® Inc.: Sisters Network® Inc. is the largest and only national Black breast cancer survivorship organization with Affiliate Chapters nationwide. Sisters’ is recognized globally as the leader in the Black Breast Cancer movement.

• Sha’Dare McNeal

Starlings Volleyball, USA: The Mission of Starlings Volleyball, USA is to positively impact the lives of at-risk girls through the sport of volleyball. Starlings believes the sport of volleyball is ideal for the inner cities and rural areas of America — inexpensive, noncontact and inherently a social game requiring communication and cooperation. 

• Bethania De La Cruz
• Lauren Stivrins

Step Up For Mental Health®: Step Up For Mental Health® is a peer-to-peer advocacy group providing support, assistance, and educational services to empower families living with the challenges of mental health-related issues and its impact on families. 

• Karsta Lowe
• Nootsara Tomkom

Susan G. Komen: Susan G. Komen®’s mission is to save lives by meeting the most critical needs in our communities and investing in breakthrough research to prevent and cure breast cancer. 

• Aury Cruz

Teach for America: Teach For America is a nonprofit organization whose stated mission is to “enlist, develop, and mobilize as many as possible of our nation’s most promising future leaders to grow and strengthen the movement for educational equity and excellence.”

• Emma Willis

Team IMPACT: Because no child should be sidelined by sickness. Team IMPACT tackles the emotional trauma and social isolation experienced by children facing serious and chronic illnesses by matching them with a college athletic team. Through our two-year therapeutic program that complements their medical treatments, children develop relationships and skills that help them complete the full circle of healing.

• Ronika Stone

The Rainbow Connection: The Rainbow Connection grants wishes to Michigan children battling life-threatening medical conditions and offers support services to Wish Families in need. 

• Ali Bastianelli

The Virago Project: A nonprofit organization that raises awareness about the mental health challenges female athletes face in sports and life.

• Deja McClendon

Union of Concerned Scientists: The Union of Concerned Scientists is a national nonprofit organization founded more than 50 years ago by scientists and students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Their mission: to use rigorous, independent science to solve our planet’s most pressing problems. Joining with people across the country, they combine technical analysis and effective advocacy to create innovative, practical solutions for a healthy, safe, and sustainable future. Today, they are a group of nearly 250 scientists, analysts, policy experts, and strategic communicators dedicated to that purpose.

• Molly McCage

We Serve First: Providing financial assistance to athletes, helping them to reach their full potential despite financial hardships. Club and camp experiences can be costly. We Serve First wants to help young women develop skills that will serve them throughout their lives.

• Erin Fairs