How many free throws could you make in 15 minutes while raising money to support Helping Hoops?
That question was answered by hundreds of supporters on the weekend of October 5 & 6 at Melbourne Sports & Aquatic Centre (MSAC) in Albert Park, Melbourne. Now in its eighth year, the Charity Shootout has become the marquee event on the Helping Hoops calendar and helped raise hundreds-of-thousands of dollars to support our programs.
2019 saw a move of venue and a new partner to help us take the event to the next level. Melbourne Sports and Aquatic Centre (MSAC) hosted the event for the first time and afforded us a larger space to activate. As part of their new partnership with Helping Hoops in 2019, Nike stepped up to help dress the larger venue and provide activities and activations for the hundreds of shooters and supporters across the weekend.
The fundraising tally for 2019 reached $115,533, which was achieved through a combination of individual fundraisers and corporate support. Reaching this amount allows us to unlock the plans we have in 2020 to grow Helping Hoops and reach even more children and young people through our free basketball programs.
Along with our fundraising target, we also made a combined 25,700 free throws across the weekend thanks to our supporters. Those unable to attend locally at MSAC did not miss the opportunity to shoot and fundraise by signing up to participate at their local hoop.
Saturday night’s Celebrity All Star Game capped off day one of the Charity Shootout and featured members of our community teaming up with participants from around our programs. Brendon Goddard, Damon Lowry, David Simmons, Davo Hickey, Izzy Anstey, Liv Simmons, Patty Miller, Ror Akot, Tegan Cunningham, Tim Watts, and Walleldin Elnour joined some excited Helping Hoops kids and played a number of short games in front of an appreciative crowd.
We would like to thank all shooters who fundraised and helped us reach the biggest result in Charity Shootout history. Our thanks also goes to our corporate sponsors in Nike, Basketball Victoria, McDonald’s, The Jim Stynes Foundation, and Obrien Real Estate. Lastly, a special thanks to the dozens of volunteers who contributed to the Shootout. We could not have run the event without you.
