March Madness captures the attention of many Americans every year with basketball being one of the main events of the month. This year, Floyd Central joins in on the basketball craze with Raise Green, formally known as Dance Marathon, in hosting the Hope To Heal basketball tournament to raise money for Norton Children’s Hospital.
“The event will be held on Saturday, March 14. It is an intramural basketball tournament where teams will compete to win the game,” said Raise Green member Madelynne Walter.
The tournament will take place tomorrow in the FC gyms with check in beginning at 9 a.m. Teams will be made up of five players, with each player able to register in advance or on the day, with a $10 entry cost per player.
“We don’t have access to concessions, but we’re making our own. We are asking [the organization’s committees] to bring in Gatorades and waters and chips and candies for the players and the people who want to come watch,” said the student behind the tournament, Olive Kinder, who serves as fundraising executive for Raise Green.
Raise Green, the group behind the tournament, focuses on student-run fundraising for Norton Children’s Hospital.
“The Norton Children’s Foundation has a liaison that I’m in close contact with, but we do go through the Children’s Miracle Network to raise all of our funds,” said Raise Green sponsor, Heather Bradley.
The Children’s Miracle network works to raise funds for children’s hospitals across both the United States and Canada, including working with the Norton Children’s foundation at Norton Children’s Hospital.
“The foundation raises funds exclusively for Norton Children’s Hospital, Kentucky’s only full-service, free-standing hospital created ‘Just for Kids’; Norton Children’s Medical Center; and pediatric services at Norton Women’s & Children’s Hospital to support programs, equipment, new technologies, clinical research, child advocacy and health education for patients, families, medical staff and the community,” according to the Norton Children’s website.
The money Raise Green makes goes directly to help the children at Norton, with the main fundraising push being the themed Raise Green event that takes place every year in the spring.
“I joined Dance Marathon because of some personal experiences with family that I have, and I just thought it was a great way to get connected to the hospital and raise money for a good cause,” said senior Lakan Jerke.
Kinder has worked closely with Norton Children’s Hospital even before joining Raise Green.
“I do a lot with the Children’s Hospital. I’m on the team board for the foundation over there. I’ve been a volunteer since freshman year, and I have an internship through Norton’s. I think what they do is amazing,” said Kinder.
The organization focuses on being student led, allowing students like Kinder to make the decisions behind which fundraisers the organization does.
“Students get to make all the decisions. We try to schedule things that they are interested in running and what they think the student body would be interested in participating in,” said Bradley.
Kinder came up with the idea for a Hoops to Heal style tournament last year, but the logistics of holding it did not work out due to limited time and gym space.
“We try not to make it like this, but Dance Marathon is very heavily female-oriented, like you don’t have a lot of guys come, like boyfriends will come, but we don’t have a lot of guys. So, I was like, what’s a way we can get guys involved and get them into this and help? I was thinking about it last year and my boyfriend plays Hoosier Hills basketball and intramural basketball, like that’s something they love to do,” said Kinder.
This year, with her new position as fundraising executive, she was able to work with FC athletic director Chris Kane to make it a reality.
“They came down and asked about gym availability and just how to get started. So, we worked with them on finding a date, time, space, kind of gave them a few pointers and people to talk to help get everything set up and running,” said athletic director Chris Kane.
Planning an event like the tournament requires more than just figuring out a date and place, with the involvement of money complicating the process.
“First of all, logistics. You have to get the time and the location. You have to get the rules and how everything’s going to work. With anything that involves money, you want to make sure you have a plan for it and make sure that you know who’s accounting for it. Also, making sure to your telling people what it’s for,” said Kane.
In the process of ironing out those logistics, Raise Green worked with a number of FC members from teachers to students who helped the group plan for the tournament.
“We’re working with some of the female basketball players to be refs for the tournament for us, and Mr. Kane has been very, very helpful in getting the gym reserved for us. We’ve been talking to Mr. Brogan and Dr. Kehrer, they’re helping us figure out some rules and regulations,” said Kinder.
With this year being the trial run for the tournament, Saturday’s game will serve as the deciding factor of if Hoops to Heal becomes a recurring event. Raise Green has big plans for how Hoops To Heal could expand if this year’s tournament succeeds.
“If it goes well this year, they’re going to try to bring New Albany in next year, get a student liaison to help figure out their side of things and do a bracket for New Albany, a bracket for Floyd, and then a championship game,” said Kinder.
