Project Turned Into a Passion

Since I had to do a service project as a requirement for my college, I decided to create an event I was passionate about for a cause I was also passionate about. I had played basketball my entire life until I got to college, but I still had a love for it. So, I decided to take my love for basketball, my growing leadership skills, and my newly found event planning skills to pull off an amazing event, and I will break down the process.

First, I had to find a charity, and since I had already made up my mind about Make-A-Wish, I was set to go. I then got in contact with a representative to make sure I was able to advertise using their name and logo. Once that was taken care of, the rest was up to me.

Next, I had to secure a location for the event to take place. This was a little bit tougher, but I enjoy a challenge every now and then. I decided to try my old high school. I still had contacts with my basketball coach and the athletic director, and due to the fact I held good relationships with them over the years, it was easy enough for them to give me an astounding "Yes."

After securing the facility for the event, I then had to complete the biggest task yet: Find enough players. Now, I know this event was for charity, but I wanted as many people as possible to participate so we could raise a lot of money for Make-A-Wish. I advertised and recruited across numerous platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and through emails. Without a doubt, this took the most time and effort.

Since I was on spring break at the time, many other colleges were not, so that left out a lot of people. High school teams in Pittsburgh were still competing in WPIAL playoffs at the time, so there go's another section of players, but somehow I was able to get in contact with enough of the right people to find 20 teams and over 80 players to participate.

Besides getting together all the concessions and event supplies, I was all set for a great event! Saturday, March 4th was the day and we had the courts from 12 pm to 5 pm. We were ready to go!

In the end, we raised over $2,000 for Make-A-Wish thanks to our sponsors, Rohrich Cadillac, Kohl's (South Hills), and all the players, parents, and coaches that donated!

It was definitely a great event and because of the fun I had putting it together, I made a vow to all the players that I will make this an annual event due to the great time everyone had and the impact we made in the community.

This project turned into a passion from day 1 and I can't wait to see what we can do with it next year! I only had 44 days to put this together, due to the timeframe I had with school, but now I have one whole year to plan and I can't wait to see the outcome in 2018!

You never know where a project will lead you. It may just end afterward and you may just carry on with the rest of your life, or it may be one step closer to creating an annual charity event that impacts hundreds of people in your community! You never know until you try!