Bellarine basketball fundraiser to join crusade against MND

THE BELLARINE’S leading basketball body will make a community-first impact this Saturday, July 23 by sending all proceeds from its senior triple header towards a local charity.

Bellarine Peninsula Basketball Association (BPBA) has a special day planned when its Youth League Women, Division 1 Women and Division 1 Men Bellarine Storm teams take the floor.

The association is aiming to raise as much funding for Geelong-based charity Wheel for MND on behalf of MND Victoria as possible.

“Helping out with initiatives like this is massive for us,” BPBA operations manager Nick Stamatopolous said.

“We try to help out in the community in as many ways as possible, it’s not always about basketball, we want to give an outlet to people to be active.

“That includes being inclusive and encouraging people with disabilities to be involved.

“If this is one step towards showing people what we’re all about as an association, then we’re all about it.”

All admission fees on the night will be donated to MND Victoria, the association will hold several raffles and MND merchandise will also be available.

Chris Hall and Robbie Carroll from Wheel 4 MND originally came to the association with the idea for a fundraising night in 2019, but the pandemic put the plans on hold.

“It is great that a local organisation like BPBA wants to get on board,” Hall said.

“This has been in the pipeline for the last two to three years, but with COVID it obviously hasn’t been able to happen.

“The kind of impact that is made when small businesses want to get involved is huge as it gives me the strive to keep going and to look for other businesses to get behind us in the future.

“The funds that will be raised from this goes straight into care and research, but for Wheel 4 MND, it enables us to get closer to my overall target since started fundraising of $50,000.”

The action takes place at Bellarine Sports Centre, Peninsula Drive, Drysdale with games to begin at 4pm, 6pm and 8pm.

If any other businesses would like to get behind Wheel 4 MND they can contact Chris and Robbie at [email protected]