By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Tuesday was the Darting Basketball Academy's first shoe drive to benefit local youth, but it probably won't be the last.
DBA, in conjunction with the Topeka non-profit group Sole Reason, held its Community Give Back Camp Tuesday at Topeka Collegiate School and by mid-day right at 170 pairs of shoes had been accumulated to be distributed to local kids.
Wednesday's all-day camp included 50 boys and girls participants, ages 5 through 13, with the price of admission a new pair of sneakers.
Darting Basketball Academy's Kerry Darting talks to participants during Tuesday's Community Give Back Camp. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
DBA's Kerry Darting said he hopes to hold more shoe drive/camps in the future.
"This is the first shoe drive that we've done and we're extremely happy with the results,'' Darting said. "We've got close to 200 pairs of shoes and in about 24 hours it was sold out, so we'd love to continue doing it.
"Maybe we could even do it at a bigger location so we could get more kids and get more shoes.''
Tuesday's Darting Basketball Academy Community Give Back Camp had accumulated nearly 200 pairs of donated sneakers by mid-day. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Sole Reason's goal is to provide every needy child in the local community with a new pair of sneakers.
