I'm sure you're well aware of former UConn and current Connecticut Sun star Tina Charles' generous act of donating more than $30,000 to have a school built in Mali.

I wrote a story about Charles and the project which ran in today's paper. Here are some of the most telling quotes from people talking about Charles' giving spirit.

Former UConn and current Connecticut Sun teammate Kalana Greene
"The thing I love about her is it is not about just writing a check and say ‘I did this, it’s a tax write off.’ To see it come together and be done it brings tears to her eyes. She is really passionate about it. She really wants people to have opportunities that she has never had or opportunities that she has had. I have never seen somebody that genuine about caring for others, I kind of look at her like Angelina Jolie. She is a humanitarian. She was talking last night about ‘I want to go to Africa, I want to go over them, see it and be a part of it.’ It is real special to see all of this unfold right before my eyes."

Mary Fanaro, founder and CEO of OmniPeace
"She doesn't try to impress anybody, she is who she is and she is OK with that. That is rare. There is a rare, very genuine sometimes childlike shyness, sensitivity, inquisitiveness about her. It is a really wonderful quality and you detect those in her immediately It is not like you have to hang out with her weeks to find that out. She is very much who she is, which is a woman who is comfortable in her own skin."

Marc Friedman, COO of buildOn
"I met with her and her mom and explained the whole program to them. It was really nice, she really wanted to make sure her mom knew what the investment was. We were building a school and I would keep in touch with her  but more importantly she would reach out to me almost on a weekly basis making sure the school is on time, we were under budget and when the coup occurred in Mali she was really concerned about the people in Mali and wanting to make sure the school was going to get complete but really concerned about the people in her village. I think is showed how beautiful of a humanitarian there was inside of Tina that not many people see because they don't know her. It was beautiful to see and understand how much she cares about helping others who don't have as much as she has."

Speaking of Charles, she has a new European team to play for as she signed with Wisla Can-Pack. There is a posting on the team's official site saying "TINA CHARLES has joined Wisla Can-Pack! We kindly inform that Wisla Can-Pack signed American center Tina Charles for the 2012/13 sports season." Wisla Can-Pack is based in Krakow, Poland. Charles played last season in Turkey with Galatasaray and ranked in the top 10 in the EuroLeague in both scoring (18.9 PPG) and rebounding (8.9).

BIG EAST SCHEDULE STILL BEING WORKED ON
Since I received an email inquiring about the status of the Big East schedule and I never got around to posting what the Big East Conference's Danielle Donehew said when I asked her about the time frame of having conference home and away opponents announced, I do have a little info to pass on.

Donehew said that the schedule grid is still being worked on and is a popular topic of conversation. She believes the home and away opponents would be announced next month with the complete schedule likely to come out around Labor Day.

With West Virginia departing, there will be a slight change from the format. Instead of each team in the Big East drawing one team twice and playing the rest of the conference squads once per season, the plan is to have two home and home series for each of the conference teams while playing the rest of the league's teams once.