With 973 participants and 82 teams, this year’s Hoopin’ Around The Clock fundraiser was the most successful to date.
The event, held over three days in January at St. Clair College’s SportsPlex and Migration Hall in Kingsville, saw dozens of teams, groups, and organizations from across Southwestern Ontario compete against one another around the clock.
There were teams representing elementary and secondary school teachers, the Ontario Provincial Police and Windsor Police Services, HUB, Century 21 Real Estate, and Windsor Family Credit Union, as well as several local school and travel basketball teams. Of special note was the opportunity to once again include OCAA league competition as the St. Clair Saints Women’s and Men’s basketball teams hosted one of their biggest rivals, the Fanshawe College Falcons.
Most importantly, in addition to bringing the community together, organizers were able to raise $53,000, bringing the overall total raised to $157,000 in just five years.
This year’s funds will be used to help support five local groups – Neighbourhood Charitable Alliance, St. Clair Saints Athlete Sponsorship program, Windsor Pinoy Athletics, Windsor Cancer Centre Foundation Patient Assistance Fund, and The Bridge - Leamington Youth Resource Centre.
Organizers Reid Innes, St. Clair’s Manager of Student Success, and Jimmy Parsons, chair of the School of Media Art and Design, presented a $10,500 cheque recently to College President Patti France.
Hoopin’ Around The Clock is a unique 24-hour fundraiser that has teams from all areas of the community come together to compete against one another in modified versions of a basketball game in the spirit of fun, community and charity.
St. Clair students from the Event Management program were able to use the event as a semester project, to help them complete the outcomes of their course. They focused on organizing volunteers and helping to plan and execute the fundraiser. "It gave them a taste of what it would be like when they go to run their own events once they graduate," Innes said.