Hoop-a-Thon Supports Strathcona Community Centre Basketball Program

June 20, 2008 (No. 33) - A fundraising Hoop-a-thon is being held at Strathcona Community Centre to help fund the centre's basketball program. The program provides a positive opportunity for kids who live in the downtown eastside, Canada's poorest postal code. Most of the 400 young people enrolled in the program are from working poor or single parent families with parents who work 14 - 16 hours a day just to provide the very basics.

Fifty young people from the program will assemble in the Strathcona Community Centre Gym on Saturday, June 21st at 10:00am. They will be organized into ten teams and each team member will try to score as many free throws in a given time limit. The public can support the fundraiser through pledges for the participants.

The Strathcona Community Centre Basketball Program provides a positive life experience for kids who are constantly at risk of violence and drug addiction. It is one of the very few affordable, positive, safe activities for children in the downtown eastside, providing 400 kids, from preschool to grade 12, the opportunity to participate in sports.

The Hoop-a-thon will provide much needed funds for safe transportation to and from away basketball games; uniforms and shoes that allow players to participate safely and with pride and dignity and ongoing training camps and coaching certification.

Monday, June 23rd at 7pm
Trout Lake Community Centre
3350 Victoria Drive

-30-

For more information about the program and how pledges can be made, contact Ron Suzuki, Recreation Programmer, at 604-713-1851.
www.vancouverparks.ca

 

The Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation maintains 220 parks and 40 major facilities throughout the City of Vancouver. The Park Board's mission is to provide, preserve and advocate for parks and recreation services to benefit people, communities and the environment.

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