High school volleyball team rallies around Kenston family

CHAGRIN FALLS, Ohio - Kenston High school freshman Savannah Stitts is learning her classmates are much more than friends. She calls them family.

Stitts plays on her JV volleyball team, and her teammates are rallying around her after a horrible tragedy.

Her dad is now paralyzed from the shoulders down after a dirt bike accident in July.  He's still in the hospital, and these past months have been a blur of school work, practice, trips to the hospital and a lot of stressful nights. But the Kenston community is doing what it can to ease the stress.

Her volleyball team hosted a fundraiser for the family Tuesday night, selling t-shirts, raffle tickets and wrist bands. Classmates filled the gym for the game against West Geauga, wearing their gray Stitts family shirts, and cheering on the team and the family. Savannah was floored by the turnout.

"It absolutely means the world to me to have whole school supporting me.... people I didn't know before wearing t-shirts.. so cool," Stitts said.

But her coach Dan Coughlin isn't surprised. He said, "Kenston has been a big family, and since I've been here for almost ten years there's been a lot of hardship in this community.  And I think to do something big like this for a family at this time is going to go over very well and all the kids have loved doing it."

In fact rival West Geauga enjoyed it as well. Teammates and families pooled an extra $350, and donated it after the game, which, by the way, was a win for Kenston.