Hoops For Hope Basketball (Between Clarion And Keystone), Cancer Awareness And Human Ribbon Event To Take Place Today (Friday, January 24th) At Clarion Area

on 24 January, 2025 at 08:20

Photo courtesy of Diane McMunn – Clarion and Keystone players and coaches forming ribbon at 2021 event at Keystone

Used by permission from EYT / Explore Clarion

By Jenn Russell

CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — The 10th annual Hoops for Hope event will take place on Friday, January 24, in the main gymnasium at Clarion High School.

This year, the Clarion Area Bobcats will host the Keystone Panthers for an exciting evening of basketball to raise money for a great cause.

All proceeds from this event benefit the Clarion Sunshine Project at the Clarion Hospital Cancer Center. The mission of this project is to help low-income patients meet the financial burden of medical expenses incurred in the course of their treatment for cancer and related diseases.

“Everything we make from the whole night goes back to the Sunshine Project,” Laura Burford told exploreClarion.com.

Burford has helped organize the event for the past 10 years.

“We generally raise between $4,500 and $6,500, but of course, we try to raise more every year,” she explained.

The action will kick off around 4:00 p.m. with the girls’ junior varsity game, followed by the boys’ junior varsity. The varsity girls’ and boys’ games will follow around 6:30 p.m.

“Between the boys’ and girls’ varsity games will be the Human Ribbon, where we honor cancer survivors and people fighting cancer,” Burford added.

The Clarion Singers will perform as the players form the ribbon, and a featured speaker will share her experience with the Sunshine Project.

Admission to the event is $5.00 for adults and $3.00 for students. Cancer survivors and people who are currently fighting cancer can attend for free.

Wildflowers Clarion Floral Co. has donated carnations to be handed out to these special guests.

An expanded concession stand will be available for refreshments, and fun contests will be held all night, including raffles and a 3-point throw challenge.

“We’ve had many, many baskets donated for the raffle from local businesses and individuals who care a lot about the Sunshine Project,” Burford added.

Clarion Area and Keystone take turns hosting the “Hoops for Hope” each year. The Clarion Area and Keystone Boys and Girls Basketball Boosters work together to make this event successful.

Mary Rearick and Jen Wingard helped Burford coordinate this year’s event. However, Burford, whose son is a junior at Clarion Area, will be stepping aside soon.

“Mary and Jen have not had kids in the basketball program for years, but they still help. Next year, Jill Spence will be taking over, which is kind of cool, since she has one kid at Keystone and one at Clarion,” Burford noted.

In addition to the businesses and individuals who donated to this year’s event, Burford wanted to give a special thank you to the Mrs. Claus Club, directed by Tiki Kahle, which donated event tee shirts to the teams, coaches, and Clarion Singers this year.

Both varsity games will be broadcast live on www.exploreClarion.com and www.exploreSportsPA.com.

(Special note on what the Sunshine Project provides) The Clarion Sunshine Project covers hospital bills for patients whose insurance does not cover the entire bill. So for instance, your health insurance has a deductible that you have to meet and a lot of insurances have also what is called “out of pocket” expenses that need to be paid by the patient before the insurance is going to pay 100%. So if you have an insurance that has a $400 deductible., And a $4,500 “ out of pocket” expense, that patient is responsible for $4,900 before their insurance will pay 100%. The Clarion Sunshine Project will help that patient with that $4,900.