LEXINGTON PARK, Md. — The following letter was submitted to TheBayNet.com regarding an upcoming event aimed at stopping the rise of gun violence in the community.
Over the past few years, we have experienced an increase in gun violence that has devastated our entire community. Our teens and young adults are dying and being incarcerated at an alarming rate due to gun violence.
On Saturday, July 30th, Basketball 4 LYFE and Willows Recreation Center will hold a community fundraising event, RISE against gun violence.
We must RISE up and take action against gun violence in our neighborhoods and community. During the summer months, Basketball 4 LYFE has made a commitment to focus on combating the rise of violence in our community by creating more programs and opportunities for our teens and young adults to have positive outlets.
Basketball 4 LYFE program has been spending thousands of dollars each year providing youth a safe space to learn life skills that support maturing teens and assist with developing connections outside of schools.
These pro-social life skills include emotional regulation, social-emotional development, taking responsibility for personal choices and decisions, understanding impact over intent, job skills development, mental health awareness, tutoring, and connecting with mentors for ongoing and wraparound support. Basketball 4 LYFE staff is composed of volunteers who are community educators, teachers, administrators, dedicated parents, children and youth advocates, and other leaders.
In order to accomplish our mission and vision, we are reaching out to the community for support. We need your help! Through this fundraising event, RISE against gun violence, we will be able to increase funds to support our high-risk youth who could not otherwise participate in the activities available in our community.
In addition, we are creating an event that will bring our community together to promote mental health awareness and access to resources, increase the understanding of the traumatic impact gun violence has on an entire community, as well as to develop a sense of community engagement, ownership, and accountability that is necessary to address the public health epidemic of gun violence. As we collaborate with the NAACP, we will donate a percentage of our proceeds to help support victims of gun violence in our community.
The following people have worked on this event as they too want to take a stand and RISE against gun violence: Reggie RIce, Adrianne Dillahunt, Adrian and Elizabeth Young, and Stacey Cornelius. Please join them by getting involved and taking action. We’d also like to express our gratitude to Trish Post and Sunny Malhotra of Willows Recreation Center and Sidelines Bar and Grill; without their support and generosity this event would not be possible – big heartfelt shoutout to them!
Event Details:
Saturday, July 30, 2022
2 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Willows Recreation Center
Cornhole Tournament
2 p.m. competitive cornhole competition begins
4 p.m. social cornhole competition begins
$60.00 per team
Please register here: https://basketball4lyfe.org/event/rise4lyfe
- Mental Health and Community Resources
- Silent Basket Auction
- Kids activities and games
- Food trucks
- Special guest performances: Comedy Illusionist Reggie Rice, SRMS Rhythm Club, K-9 Unit Show
- DJ Young
Food and drinks are available at Sidelines Bar and Grill inside Willows Recreation Center.
And MUCH MUCH MORE!
You won’t want to miss this event… More importantly, WE NEED YOUR SUPPORT TO SAVE OUR KIDS!
More details about the cornhole tournament and event are on our website – www.basketball4lyfe.org
You can also donate your time or resources to help make this fundraising event a SUCCESS!
Please contact Stacey Cornelius at deckard.stacey@gmail.com. If you have boards you’d like to bring, please let us know.
Proceeds go to Basketball 4 LYFE. Please see the flyer attached, and help spread the word.
Respectfully,
Jeff “PeeWee” Burrell
Educator, Concerned Community Leader, and Basketball 4 LYFE CEO
How about we cal it what it is: gang violence. Plenty of folks here legally owning, and carrying, legal firearms.
Stop believing laws will change any of this. Events that reach out to the community are a way to try and fix the issue, but you’ll never succeed if you make it about guns.
Good luck
Do you really think the ones committing the crimes and using their guns will pay any attention to you????
You’re absolutely correct. This how progressives take actionable approaches to solving problems – with corn hole tournaments and comedians. But, along the way they’ll lay the blame at the feet of many. Not criminals and gang members mind you, but people who have never committed “gun violence.”
The public health epidemic is thugs
Period end of story
Enlist everyone of them in the military and send them overseas
The U.S. Military is not a repository for low-lifes. It is a professional organization of higher learning. Only those with moral character and dedication will succeed.
No, the military teaches discipline and order which is clearly the point that was made
All of this could have been eliminated if only the parents did their job…
Amen tell their parents to do their jobs