The South and North men’s and women’s basketball teams combined efforts to raise money for military families in the second annual Free Throws for Heroes fundraiser on Jan. 19.
Sydney DeHorn, South women’s varsity basketball player, organized the event, which challenges players from both schools to make as many free throws as possible out of 50 per team in addition to 15 chances for each school principal. Sponsors were encouraged to donate money for every shot made, with all proceeds going to the Charity Stripe, a non-for-profit that raises money for military families, according to Syndey.
Sydney has expanded the fundraiser from last year by adding South’s men’s basketball teams and teams from North. In 2013, only the South women’s basketball program participated. They raised over $7,000. This year, because of the variety of teams that participated, the DeHorns set a higher goal, according to Sydney.
“We anticipate, with the addition of South’s men’s program and our rival high school, GBN, we’ll raise more than double what we raised last year,” Sydney said.
Sydney’s sister Annika, an eighth grader at Attea Middle School, plays for Energy Volleyball. Sydney invited the volleyball team to join the fundraiser. Sydney said she and Annika organized “Serve the Troops,” where Energy volleyball players will be sponsored for their serves on Feb. 9 and 10.
Sydney and Annika hope to jointly raise $30,000 between the two events. The total donations had not been calculated when the Oracle went to press. Syndey and Annika plan to use the money to improve local veterans’ hospitals and continue helping military families, according to Sydney.
“One of the things we are planning to do […] is build a miniature golf course at the James A. Lovell Federal [Veteran’s Affairs] hospital in North Chicago,” Sydney said.
Sydney was inspired to start the fundraiser when she met a local military spouse last year.
“I always thought that [people in] the military people…do so much for us, and I feel like we don’t recognize them enough, so I just thought it would be an amazing thing,” Sydney said.
Johnny Cowhey, varsity men’s basketball captain, is connected to the military. His brother Tommy is currently a senior at the Naval Academy.
“I definitely thought [the team] should do this because a lot of [players], have personal connections [to the military],” Cowhey said. “It’s always nice to give back and, with my brother being in the military, it’s always something I think about trying to do.”
Ben Widner, men’s varsity basketball coach, said there was not much competition between South and North teams during the event.
“When it comes to basketball we’re always trying to beat them,” Widner said. “When it comes to raising money for an important cause, we hope that both sides are equally outstanding.”
Local members of the military were invited to shoot hoops as well. Corporal Kamal Andelbaki Jr., South’s Marine Corps representative, attended and expressed pride in the teams’ efforts to help troops in the community.
“I think it’s an awesome thing, the fact that they’re willing to…show their support, it just makes me feel that much better about what I do,” Andelbaki said.
Steve Weissenstein, women’s varsity basketball coach, believes that the event was indicative of South’s overall dedication to philanthropy.
“I think the students really care about what goes on outside the school, and when they hear about people outside of school that are suffering, they make something happen,” he said.
