A year ago, Grace Rett prepared to establish a new world record. On December 19, 2019, at 8 a.m., Rett began rowing on an indoor machine at the College of Holy Cross. Sixty-two hours and three seconds later, on Dec. 21, the member of the Crusaders women’s crew team stopped - a new world record.
Saturday, on the anniversary of when Rett began her world record, friends, family, teammates and the Worcester County community will honor the sophomore who was killed in January in a crash in Florida during a team trip.
At 8 a.m. on Saturday, a 62-hour fundraiser in Rett’s name will begin raising funds for the GRACE Center, an educational and athletic complex at her former high school, Our Lady of the Valley, in Uxbridge.
“It’s a blessing because we need to protect her legacy now,” Rett’s father Chris said. “We can’t be her coach anymore. We can’t be mom and dad in a traditional sense, so it’s really wonderful for us that her spirit will be able to live on for future generations.”
As part of the fundraiser, entitled GRACE to the Finish, the Holy Cross women’s crew team will take turns rowing indoors to match Rett’s record. Their performance will be aired live on Zoom where people can cheer them on or ask questions.
A high school teammate of Rett’s is going to row for 10 minutes every hour for 62 hours.
There’s a silent auction with everything from WooSox tickets, golf outings, restaurant dinners and astronomy adventures.
A raffle will be held every hour through the duration of the fundraiser. In all, there will be about 50 events taking place during the virtual fundraiser.
Donations will also be accepted through the 62-hour period, which ends on Dec. 21 at 10 p.m. online at www.gracetoafinish.com.
“It’s kind of like a massive virtual fundraiser with a whole bunch of different things going on for 62 hours,” Chris Rett said.
The goal is to raise $1 million dollars to construct the Grace Rett Athletic Complex and Education - or GRACE - Center.
The $3 million project is targeting the spring of 2021 to break ground.
It will include a 7,500-square foot gymnasium with a high school regulation basketball court and up to 100 bleachers.
Plans for the GRACE Center at Our Lady of the Valley in Uxbridge include two classrooms and a high school regulation basketball court.
The building will also include two classrooms, a lobby, concession area, storage space and bathrooms. Outside it will feature two outdoor green spaces for classes, a new parking lot and a covered breezeway connecting the GRACE Center to Our Lady of the Valley’s main building.
“I hope for years to come we can treat the gym as kind of a home base,” Chris Rett said. “Run basketball camps, summer camps and things that Grace would have like to have shared with people.”
The Rett family lives about a mile from Our Lady of the Valley. Rett and her sister both attended the high school. Rett’s mother teaches music there as well.
“It’s an amazing community that helped make our girls who they are,” Chris Rett said. “So at the same time also remembering our daughter and to be giving something to a community that really deserves it, and strengthen the school and give future kids a chance to do things my daughter did, it’s really kind of a double bonus.”
Originally, the idea for a fundraiser mirrored that of the Ice Bucket Challenge but along the lines of a text chain, ChrisRett said. One text would challenge three others, who would then challenge three more people, hoping to spark widespread giving.
Instead, organizers received a viral reaction much sooner than expected and a virtual fundraiser emerged with groups offering to donate and help from across the country.
“Part of me is really happy that she [reached so many people] in her short life,” Chris Rett said. “And part of me is really sad that she didn’t get to keep doing that.”
While Grace Rett set a world record in rowing, her first love was basketball. The new facility would finally provide Our Lady of the Valley with a home basketball court.
“She had the heart of a 6-foot-2 [basketball player],” said Chris Rett of his 5-foot-7 daughter. “She played way taller than she was. She just loved it.”
As a high school basketball player, Rett played all of her games on the road, including a game against Venerini Academy in Worcester. Venereni hadn’t lost a game in two years, Chris Rett remembered. Our Lady of the Valley fell down 17-1 to start the game.
Grace Rett led a second-half comeback victory in part by sinking 10 of 11 free throws.
The way she led her team back struck her father. He remembered Grace shooting free throws constantly at home, even when snow covered the court.
“She would come in and warm her hands up and go back out and shoot 50 more,” Chris Rett said.
To this day the victory, Chris Rett believes, shaped his daughter into the person she became. He hopes the court in Uxbridge will do the same for others.
“It gave her the confidence in the years to come,” Chris Rett said. “That you can do anything you put your mind to.”
Related Content:
- ‘A little piece of her here’: Legacy of Grace Rett, Holy Cross student killed in crash, to live on through athletic and education center
- ‘Love the fight’: Holy Cross rower Grace Rett inspired others, family says in obituary after she died in Florida crash
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