Dunking for a difference

Liberty Christian Academy raises $8,000 to fight childhood cancer

 

TEAM — The Liberty Christian Academy girls’ basketball team posed after the “Shoot-A- Thon” with Head Coach Paul Redgate and the team managers. Photo Provided

TEAM — The Liberty Christian Academy girls’ basketball team posed after the “Shoot-A- Thon” with Head Coach Paul Redgate and the team managers.
Photo Provided

The Liberty Christian Academy (LCA) basketball teams hosted a free throw “Shoot-A-Thon” Saturday, Jan. 14 through which more than $8,000 was donated to fight childhood cancer.

The boys and girls basketball teams combined to make 5,147 free throws and raised more than $8,000 dollars to be donated to the charitable organization CURE Childhood Cancer.

LCA girls’ Basketball Head Coach Paul Redgate said this was the second year in a row that the school has put on the event.

Redgate said the basketball program used to put on an event similar to this when current LCA superintendent John Patterson was the boys’ basketball head coach.

Last year Redgate decided to bring back the event based on inspiration from Patterson.
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“Mr. Patterson always has a saying, ‘Find the one thing in this world that you hate and then try to do something to bring about some change,’” Redgate said.

“Cancer is one disease that any of us has probably had a loved one impacted by, and we want to use our platform of the simple game of basketball to show the love of Christ to people.”

Redgate said players had been fundraising for months leading up to the event.

Players would ask for donations of an amount of money per shot made or a flat donation of money.

Redgate said every player was for the idea of trying to make a positive change.

“As soon as the teams were announced the first week of November, we told them about what we would be doing,” Redgate said.

“Many players knew that we would be doing the event and had been raising money casually for months, and the coaches took a lot of time to organize the event. It was definitely months in the making and for it to turn out as well as it did was amazing to see.”

LCA girls’ Basketball Captain Emily Hill said it was a great event for the LCA community to be a part of.

“We had both of our teams in the gym shooting free throws, but also all of the parents, people who donated and people from the community came out,” Hill said.

“It was really cool, a lot of people were in the gym.”

LCA men’s basketball senior Jay Barber, who is committed to play basketball at Liberty, said that he was glad to be a part of the Shoot-A-Thon.

“This Shoot-A-Thon was probably my favorite one I’ve done, the speaker was really impactful,” Barber said.

Barber said the speaker was Lynchburg resident Marcus Hill.

Hill is a cancer survivor and told his story about being diagnosed with cancer and how God provided a way for him to get treatment that he would never have been able to afford on his own.

INSPIRE — The Liberty Christian Academy boys’ and girls’ basketball teams collaborated to raise more than $8,000. Photo Provided

INSPIRE — The Liberty Christian Academy boys’ and girls’ basketball teams collaborated to raise more than $8,000.
Photo Provided

Barber said hearing the story helped everyone see that their donations can really make an impact.

Barber stated that the teams bought in to using basketball as a tool in their local community to bring about change.

“At LCA we try to raise money for good causes by even the simplest of ways, including making free throws,” Barber said.

“It is a surreal and tangible way to see how basketball can impact the lives of others, and it’s a great way to show how sports can be used to further the Kingdom.”

Coach Redgate said he is glad they did the Shoot-A-Thon and he hopes to keep it going for years to come.

Redgate said he hopes his players will see that they can use whatever tools God has given them to serve others.

“No matter where they are in life, God will give them the opportunity to make an impact on others,” Redgate said.

Cockes is a news reporter.

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