by Katelyn Smith
Several teams made up of Troy students played hard last Thursday, the sound of squeaking sneakers filling the court. They were playing in Hoops for Hope, a fundraiser to support foster families in Pike County.
The fundraiser was put on by the Christian Student Center (CSC). The campus minister and CSC director, Rich Cochran, said he wanted to bring awareness to issues college students may not think about in their everyday lives.
“Hopefully this creates some awareness in students that there’s always something around us to encourage others,” Cochran said.
This event marks the first fundraiser held for foster families by the CSC. However, due to the need of the foster families needing anonymity, the fundraiser was a little tricky. The CSC had to reach out to Pike County’s Department of Human Resources to get approval. The anonymity of the foster families had to be protected to ensure that the children remained safe.
The importance of anonymity is why the CSC says the donations will be given in the form of gift cards. The monetary benefits would help the families at their discretion and is much easier to transport than other supplies like canned foods or clothes.
Helping foster families is important to Emily Dapprich, a CSC compassion member and senior communications major from Wetumpka, Alabama,. It is all because of her little brother, Josh, who had been through six foster homes before he was adopted into the Dapprich family.
“It’s very rewarding because there’s a lot of things that people do for the foster care community regarding awareness,” Dapprich said. “However, this is us giving resources to help them in everyday life.”
There was a total of seven teams scheduled to play basketball in a bracket-style competition. The games were played on half the court so two games could be played at once. The winners received a signed basketball by Troy University’s men’s basketball team and t-shirts from the women’s team.
“The games are pretty laid back,” said Lindsay Lovoy, a junior nursing major from Gadsden, Alabama. “There’s definitely some friendly competition but at the end of the day we’re all friends looking to have fun with each other.”