OLYMPIA, Wash. – In conjunction with their Cascade Conference basketball doubleheader with Warner Pacific College, the Evergreen Geoducks are teaming up with a pair of organizations with the goal of helping youth succeed regardless of situation. Hope4Hoopers will be on-hand to collect new or gently used athletic shoes for kids in need while Kids at Hope will be honoring Meadows Elementary School as a National Kids and Hope Model.
About Hope4Hoopers
Hope4Hoopers is a non-profit organization dedicated to providing children of all ages, abilities and experience the opportunity to reach their full potential. They collect athletic shoes (new & used) through various events which are then donated to need-based organizations locally and internationally. Hope4Hoopers strives, through athletics, to create an environment where every child can pursue their dreams.
“With every pair of shoes we collect, we give hope to another athlete to continue playing sports,” said Hope4Hoopers founder Jared Mace, a former Cascade Collegiate Conference athlete at Warner Pacific College.
“It is a great chance for community members to get to know their local college athletes and role models, have a fun family night, and help other athletes in need” says Co-Founder Nathan Holthenrichs.
A portion of the collected shoes will be donated to need based organizations locally. The remainder will be taken to the Philippines in March, 2012 where they will fix up run down basketball courts, donate the shoes, and conduct a basketball camp for local athletes.
About Kids at Hope
Kids at Hope is a national organization that promotes a body of science to demonstrate how all children can succeed, without exception. The local office is located in the Gary & Carol Milgard Family Hope Center in Lakewood, Washington.
Kids at Hope establishes a holistic cultural strategic framework designed to foster community and neighborhood engagement, transform individuals and families with a sense of empowerment positively affecting their physical, social and emotional wellbeing, and creating school wide environments where all students value education as necessary steps to achieving success at life’s four major destinations: home and family; education and career; community and service; hobbies and recreation.
“There is a science behind hope, we want to share this framework with educators, youth development professionals, policy makers and others and help them look at all students as ‘at hope’ rather than as ‘at risk,’” said Wally Endicott, Executive Director of the local Kids at Hope organization.
Kids at Hope is partnering with the Evergreen Geoducks in honoring Meadows Elementary School, located in Lacey, WA, between the Women’s and Men’s Basketball games. Meadows has been identified as a National Kids at Hope Model because of their commitment to create a school culture where all students are valued for their personal skills and talents and all students are seen as capable of success, without exception.
The Geoducks and Knights will tip things off beginning at 5:30 pm with the women playing first, followed by the men at approximately 7:30 pm.