MLK Day “Hoops From the Heart” Raised $10,000 for Community Action Agency of Delaware County

Delaware County Councilman Tom McGarrigle and Council
Chairman Jack Whelan help to pick up food donations.

An estimated $10,000 was raised and over 500 pounds of food was donated on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day through the “Hoops From the Heart” event.  “Hoops From the Heart” is a MLK Day of Service initiative started in 2002 and has since raised $40,000 for Community Action Agency of Delaware County, Inc. (CAADC) programs that serve low-income residents in Delaware County.

Five basketball clinics were held on Monday, January 17th at Cabrini College in Radnor, Haverford College in Haverford, Neumann University in Aston, Widener University in Chester and Springfield High School.  The athletic staff at each school conducted the clinics, which were open to boys and girls in grades one through eight. Bobbi Morgan, the women’s basketball coach at Haverford College, was one of the people who created the Hoops from the Heart program.
               
All proceeds raised benefit CAADC programs which include emergency housing, social services, employment training and life skills training.  In addition, each athlete was asked to donate a non-perishable food item that will go to the Life Center of Eastern Delaware County, one of CAADC’s emergency housing programs. The Life Center is located at 63rd and Market streets, Upper Darby, and houses 50 homeless individuals and serves over 160 residents each year.  The Life Center also operates a feeding program that serves 200 - 250 people daily.
               
This year, Delaware County Council Chairman Jack Whelan and Councilman Tom McGarrigle utilized a Delaware County Community Service van to pick up the food donations at each basketball clinic and deliver them to the Life Center.  “This is a great initiative that involves our youth in Delaware County, and benefits people in need, which are goals that embody the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr.,” Chairman Whelan said. “Dr. King was committed to justice, to serving others and to ending poverty and this event, being held on a Day of Service in his honor, is a wonderful example of how our youth, our educational institutions and our communities can make a difference in people’s lives.”