Fighting for a Cure
Each and every semester we have strived to help the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation by raising money for diabetes. This semester we raised the bar by hosting a 5-on-5 basketball tournament with teams driving hundreds of miles just to participate in it. Our “5-On-5 Charity Basketball Tournament” was held last March. After countless hours of planning and numerous meetings, we finally compiled a list of 11 teams. There were a little less than 90 members who played, and well over 100 spectators who came to watch. Teams came from all across the state from Miami, Tampa, Orlando, and some even came from out of the state such as Georgia to partake in it.
We raised over $800 for the whole tournament. Even though a large portion of that went towards the cost of the courts and supplies, we still managed to donate a large amount towards JDRF. The basketball tournament in conjunction with our Moe’s Charity Fundraiser helped raise hundreds of dollars for this philanthropy. The Moe’s Charity Fundraiser took place in February where we volunteered at Moe’s from 4pm-10pm. 15% of all purchases from those hours went to JDRF. At the end of the day, Moe’s raised nearly $500 for those given hours and the manager commended us for our efforts. He said that it was by far one of the largest charity fundraisers he had ever had.
Overall this semester was a great success for us working to help out JDRF. We had some brothers who participated in a few JDRF Walks and helped raise money those events also. Next semester we will have our 3rd annual Freshmarket Sidewalk Sale. In our first Freshmarket Sidewalk Sale we raised over $3,700 and in the second one that we hosted we raised over $2,900. We plan on making our Moe’s fundraiser and the charity basketball tournament annual events also. Besides the events listed above, we have already started planning for an event that is much bigger and is commonly known as Sugar Free Bowl. This flag football tournament that happens across the nation to raises hundreds of dollars for JDRF will be our biggest step thus far, and we plan to make it happen within the next year.
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Mashud Rana
Rho Colony
