Cranberry CUP - Community Uniting People

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	Golf Tournament (pdf)
	Kick-Off Party
	Opening Ceremony
	Softball Tournament
	Softball Rules (pdf)
	Team Responsibilities (pdf)
	2008 Event Booklet (large pdf)

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	2008 Neighborhood Bracket
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	2007 Brackets (xls)
	Picture Gallery

The purpose of the Cranberry CUP is to conduct organized events whereas all facets of the community contribute to raising money for a worthy cause. The organization promotes volunteerism, community spirit, and goodwill toward a person or family in need.

2008 Beneficiary Application

2008 Inspirational Family Biography

The 2008 Cranberry CUP Inspirational Family:

The Cranberry CUP (Community Uniting People) has selected the Steinmetz family of Jackson Township as its Inspirational Family for 2008. Emil Steinmetz, 44, father of three and a volunteer fireman with the Harmony Volunteer Fire Company, is on the waiting list for a heart transplant. His family has been besieged by medical costs related to his heart condition in recent years.

As the CUP Inspirational Family, the Steinmetz family will be the primary beneficiary of this year’s event, which will be held August 1-3 in Cranberry Township. The CUP includes a Golf Classic, Kick-Off Party and two-day Softball Tournament. It has raised more than a total of $475,000 since its inception in 2000. In 2007, it brought in more than $115,000.

“I don’t think you can put into words what I feel right now – very gratified,” Emil said, adding that he had been an avid softball player for most of his life.

Besides Emil, the Steinmetz family includes his wife of 23 years, Kim, and their children, Kurt, 22, Emil, 20, and Kayla, 17 (pictured from left). Like Emil, Kim also is on Social Security disability. She suffers from fibromyalgia, a chronic disorder that causes muscle pain, fatigue and sleep disturbances. In addition, she has osteoarthritis and suffers from depression. Kim had been employed by Mellon Bank.

Emil’s health problems began in February 2006 when he suffered a heart attack. He said he had five stents put in to unblock two arteries. After six weeks of cardiac rehabilitation, he returned to work as an installer at Armstrong Cable Company in May 2006.

“I thought everything was going well until April 2007,” Emil said. “I was getting very rundown and my work performance was declining.” He was so unwell, he could not work.

A trip to the doctor’s office revealed that Emil needed a pacemaker defibrillator to stabilize his heart’s rhythm. It was installed in May 2007. Unfortunately, in August 2007, another echocardiogram showed more complications. Among them, Emil’s heart had swelled because of mitral valve regurgitation (MR). MR is when the mitral valve, which controls blood flow between the upper and lower left chambers of the heart, fails to close properly. A backflow of blood occurs in the left upper chamber and lungs that can cause heart enlargement, damage and failure.

In September 2007, doctors determined that Emil’s heart was too damaged and weak to fix. He has been on the transplant list since then.

Health problems are not the only setbacks the Steinmetz family has faced in recent years. In September 2004, the family home was destroyed by flooding. With government aid, the family was able to rebuild and move back in by January 2005. Eventually, however, the home, along with others in the Porter’s Cove area of Jackson, was purchased by the township as part of a state and federal program to buy properties in flood-prone areas. The Steinmetz family now rents in Jackson.

Also, two months before his employment at Armstrong Cable in December 2005, Emil lost his job. He had been an electrician for 20 years, spending 10 years with his most recent company.

The Cranberry CUP raises money through registration fees, raffle ticket sales, individual and business contributions and corporate sponsorships. Besides the Inspirational Family, the CUP also uses its proceeds to help other local families in need. The CUP benefits people living in the Seneca Valley School District, which includes Cranberry, Forward, Jackson and Lancaster townships and Callery, Evans City, Harmony, Seven Fields and Zelienople boroughs.