AFFTON – As Cor Jesu senior Eleanor McGuire drove home from field hockey practice, she thought of her friend fighting childhood cancer.
Her first emotion was helplessness. Then, she felt an overwhelming desire to help.
“I thought, ‘We need an event centered around field hockey that will give back to our community,” McGuire said.
McGuire began planning “Hockey for Hope,” an event to raise awareness of childhood cancer and raise money for a local organization, Cancer Support Community of Greater St. Louis.
First, she approached Cor Jesu coach Audrey Ploesser with her idea and they selected the date – the Sept. 25 field hockey games against Villa Duchesne (September is National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month). Then she approached Cor Jesu administrators with her plan.
“I had a script of everything that I wanted: When, where, what we’d need from everyone, and I wrote out a draft of exactly what the day would look like,” McGuire said.
‘I Play For …’ signs lined the sideline with the names of friends and family members of Cor Jesu players who have been affected by cancer. Underneath red tents at the field entrance, gift cards and baskets awaited raffle winners. The gift baskets included donations from First Phorm, Alo, D1, Parke, Nothing But Cakes, St. Louis City soccer, and Gateway Field Hockey Club – the organization of Villa Duchesne coach Kate Graft.
“We are so grateful to be a part of it,” Graft said. “We’re so impressed with Eleanor. She was wonderful. She sent emails to the captains and me. They made (hair) bows for our team. It was really a great day.”
Between the raffle, concession sales and donations, the ‘Hockey for Hope’ event at Cor Jesu raised 2,858 dollars.
“It is awesome to see it all come together,” said McGuire, who plans to study environmental law in college. “I hope it makes a really big impact. To the see the amount of people here is amazing.”
For Ploesser, the maturity shown by McGuire throughout the entire process was commendable.
“It was incredibly impressive to see a 17-year-old kid being so organized for an amazing cause that is all outside of herself,” Ploesser said. “Everything that an adult would do to plan an event – follow up emails, thinking of second and third steps – she did all of those things extensively well.”
And for McGuire, watching her vision come to fruition was highly rewarding.
“I’ve been thinking about it for months, and I was like, ‘Oh, wait, it’s today.’ It’s actually going to happen,” McGuire said. “I’m really proud of it. I’ll be passing the torch, and I really hope this event continues.”
For photos from this event, visit: https://benvessa.smugmug.com/Field-Hockey/2026-Season/Hockey-for-Hope-at-Cor-Jesu-09-24-26