Press Release
Fort High students will be “Hooping It Up” this Tuesday (May 17) at 11:30 a.m. to help students with special needs while raising money and awareness for their “Best Buddies” club.
“Hooping It Up” with Best Buddies Canada is a basketball free-throw competition and awareness event.
For a $2 entry fee, each participant tries to sink as many free throws as possible in one minute.
It’s an exciting event where students with special needs get the chance to feel like a basketball superstar as their fellow students cheer from the stands.
Three national grand prizes of $500 will be awarded to the top shooters across the country, as well as individual prizes for participating schools.
“Hooping It Up” with Best Buddies Canada invites the entire student body to get moving and embrace their school spirit in support of inclusion for fellow students with special needs.
“After five years of ‘Hooping It Up,’ students with special needs are being included in schools across the country now more than ever before,” said Steven Pinnock, executive director of Best Buddies Canada.
“This year we are expecting 10,000 participants,” he noted.
“Every school that runs ‘Best Buddies’ is making a difference by showing student volunteers and students with special needs that they are more similar than different,” Pinnock added.
“‘Hooping It Up’ gives students with special needs the opportunity to compete alongside their mainstream peers.”
Last year, 132 schools hosted “Hooping It Up” nationwide, involving more than 8,400 students across all 10 provinces and raising roughly $25,000 for local schools.
This year, Best Buddies expects 150 schools to get involved across the country.
Best Buddies Canada is a national charity that helps to foster friendships between individuals with special needs with student volunteers in more than 400 universities, colleges, high schools, and elementary schools across the country.
Through Best Buddies, students with special needs are given the opportunities to enjoy the same experiences many of us take for granted—such as going to the mall, watching a movie, or simply enjoying the company of a friend.
