Hoops for Hunger

Four years ago one of our food industry donors came up with the idea to help raise money and awareness for St Mary's and at the same time tie in his passion for basketball. Ron Watt, Operations Manager for the Wal-Mart distribution Center in Buckeye, held this year's event at the Arizona Recreation Center for the Handicapped in central Phoenix on March 19th and 20th. He recruited 7 three man teams from other area food distributors to enroll and compete in the two day event. Saturday were the preliminary round robins and some individual skills events along with 50/50 raffles and other prize drawings. Then on Sunday were the playoffs and more individual skills events. St Mary's even entered a team in this year's event. Even though our squad didn't fair well when it came to putting the ball in the basket, Ron gave them an A+ for heart and determination. I'll have to admit, I was tempted on Sunday when I visited the activities to lace up my Converse All Stars and attempt to relive my high school basketball glory days. Fortunately for my knees, I wisely chose to stay on the sidelines and cheer for the SMFB team. In hindsight and hearing the grunting and groaning on Monday morning at the office, I would bet that some of those who did play for St Mary's were wishing they had made a similar decision.

Overall the event raised enough money to be able to put over 9,000 meals into the community and I am sure all who participated walked away having had a good time.

A special thanks to Ron and his family for helping us make a difference.