Students, faculty hoop for a cause
On a night where basketball was not the main focus, equality and a dream took center stage.
Central Michigan University’s Student Activity Center hosted the second annual Martin Luther King Jr. Charity Basketball Game Thursday.
A chance for students and faculty to play against each other for a good cause, the event brought a community together.
“We started this last year and we used to do bowling but we just wanted to get the community and students more involved,” said Eris Taylor a CMU alumnus, who was responsible for running the event.
“This is a week to give back.”
According to Taylor, all of the proceeds of the game will go to the Isabella County Soup Kitchen.
Donations were not mandatory but encouraged. Taylor has high expectations for the amount of proceeds the event will bring in, after seeing what this event was able to do a year ago.
“Our goal this year is to double what we had last year,” he said. “We got close to $200 last year and we had about 56 cans (donated).”
Even onlookers had a good time enjoying the competition while honoring an American hero in the process.
Junior marketing and logistics major Joseph Needham was part of the group of spectators who attended the event. This was not his only Martin Luther King Jr. Week event, as he marched with his fellow students on Monday afternoon.
“It’s just a good cause, Needham said. It’s a fun event. When I get a chance, I like to go to events like this. I know pretty much everybody out here.”
On the court the story was the same. Academic advisor Marceil Davis values the message behind the whole week, while enjoying playing the game he loves.
“I like to play basketball and I support MLK and what he stood for,” Davis said. “It’s a good chance to play basketball but it’s also a good opportunity to let the CMU students and community support the dream he stood for.”
“We’re still working out the dream. We have different ethnicities-we have all kinds of people on the court playing together and that’s a part of the dream.”
Davis, along with the rest of the attendees, provided an example of Dr. King’s dream and had some fun at the same time.
