Rowe to comfort relatives of young patients

Senior Desmond Rowe, who is a co-chairman of Carolina Fever and an active member of Dance Marathon and Carolina Kickoff, hopes to add another accolade and activity to extensive list.

Rowe is running for UNC’s 2009 Homecoming king, which involves much more than simply winning a royal title. Running for Homecoming king requires the creation of a unique service project that the winner will implement in the spring with an award of $1,000.

If Rowe wins, he will start the Caring and Active Relief Through Athletics and Community organization next semester.

“What I’m looking for it to do is serve as a relief project for patients’ parents and siblings in the children’s hospital,” he said. “The program will let parents go out to dinner and get out of the hospital scene, which I know can be stressful. And I want to let the siblings have some fun.”

Some of Rowe’s ideas for fun include bowling, laser tag, movies and tickets to UNC sporting events.

His current organizations would help with the basic elements of his project, such as transportation. He also would ask local businesses to donate funds.

Rowe said the spring would be the perfect time to implement his project because of the numerous sporting events going on during this time.

“In the spring,  men’s and women’s basketball, swimming, men’s and women’s lacrosse, baseball and softball are going on,” he said.

“There is a wide variety of sporting events we could bring students to. We understand the stress that’s been placed on the family and want to alleviate that aspect.”

And though Rowe’s project would only be guaranteed to be in action during the spring, he has bigger plans for his proposal.

“While this pilot project is only limited to the spring semester, I want it to be a service that’s enacted for years to come that’s fostered by Carolina Fever and Dance Marathon,” he said.

“It encompasses the values of these organizations, which are dedication to the hospitals as well athletics and student athletes.”

Other factors that Rowe said led to his decision to run for Homecoming king include his perception that he is a good candidate in terms of academics, diversity in UNC involvement and embodiment of University values. He said that winning would mean a lot to him.

“It would be a great honor to have been recognized as a representative of this University and a testament to the groups I’ve been involved in and how I can foster a better relationship between the students and other aspects of the community,” he said.