Utica

St. Lawrence basketball leads the way in raising funds, awareness

By Jon Malavolti
C & G Sports Writer

» Click on image to view full size « Photo by Erin Sanchez Prize bags for the Hoops for Hope raffle sit on a table at St. Lawrence during the Jan. 14 charity fundraiser event. Several of the school’s boys and girls basketball squads teamed up with other local schools to raise a little more than $3,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Photo by Erin Sanchez Prize bags for the Hoops for Hope raffle sit on a table at St. Lawrence during the Jan. 14 charity fundraiser event. Several of the school’s boys and girls basketball squads teamed up with other local schools to raise a little more than $3,000 for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

For the most part, sports are pretty cut and dry. One team wins, the other loses.

But every once in awhile, there’s a special exception —when everybody involved comes out a winner.

Such an event recently took place Jan. 14 at St. Lawrence Catholic School in Utica.

The Mustangs hosted a day of basketball games for their fifth- through eighth-grade girls and boys teams, pairing up with squads from St. Anne in Warren, Notre Dame Marist Academy in Pontiac and St. Issac Jogues of St. Clair Shores.

But basketball was just the backdrop. The day of games, dubbed Hoops for Hope, was the final piece of a fundraiser that St. Lawrence’s hoops programs participated in for the fourth straight year. This year the Mustangs teamed up with the Eagles of St. Anne to raise funds and awareness for the fight against juvenile diabetes.

Mark Gaynor, a St. Lawrence parent and parishioner from Shelby Township, estimated that between $3,000 and $3,5000 was collected for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation through the fundraising efforts of the schools, which included a raffle the day of the games, T-shirt sales and students each paying $1 to wear blue jeans to school — instead of their regular uniform — to name a few.

“It’s a way to help the community,” Gaynor said. “The participation of the schools was amazing. Just the amount of people that came out … it was a packed gym.”

Gaynor, who especially lauded the efforts of event coordinators Cindy Reese and Lisa Elston, noted that each team sets aside its rivalry with each other to join in the cause.

“For the schools to come together, it was just amazing,” he said. “To be competitors and work together was amazing.”

You can reach C & G Sports Writer Jon Malavolti at jmalavolti@candgnews.com or at (586)498-1040.