Former Piqua volleyball player and coach Michelle Garber has been diagnosed with colon cancer, and Sidney and Piqua are joining forces to create awareness about the disease and to help honor Garber.

Sidney’s student government team will be heading up a project with Piqua High School to help out Garber, who is the mother of Piqua senior volleyball player Navie Garber. Michelle Garber was a player on Piqua’s state volleyball teams in the early 1990’s and was also a volleyball coach at the junior high for many years. She is currently undergoing chemotherapy treatments and radiation.

Next Wednesday, Sidney will travel to Piqua for a conference volleyball match at 7 p.m. To help honor Garber and promote awareness for colon cancer, the student leadership groups at both Sidney and Piqua High Schools will be selling t-shirts to help raise money and awareness.

A t-shirt will allow free admission into the volleyball game.

T-shirts will be on sale in Sidney High School’s cafeteria during lunch for $10 and in the athletic office from 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. All proceeds will go to the Upper Valley Cancer Care Center for Colon Research and to the family to help their fight with the cost of treatments.

The sales will continue through the Sidney at Piqua football game on Friday, September 29. There will be a check presentation at the football game to Michelle Garber and her family, which Piqua athletic director Chip Hare says will not only give the family financial support but show them two communities coming together for a great cause and demonstrating the power of human kindness.