Written by: Dave GoodmanIt's been quite a ride, the Hoops 4 Israel roller coaster of the past 5 years that is. Hundreds of Toronto's youth have banded together on a yearly basis to rally their networks to support the vulnerable communities of Bat Yam and Kiryat Moshe since 2006.
Touted as one of the largest niche fundraising campaigns of the 250,000 plus global Taglit-Birthright Israel alumni, Hoops 4 Israel has incredibly raised over $450,000 in 4 years.
The event model has become a source of community solidarity and zionistic pride towards our Jewish nation. In each of the past 3 years, over 200 volunteers have taken part in the event at Hoopdome as either participants and solicitors of donations, or, as organizing committee members. Most incredibly, the H4I operational budget is run with such efficiency, that under 10% of fundraised dollars are spent on executing the initiative on a yearly basis. By industry standards, this is very impressive if we do say so ourselves.
Hoops 4 Israel is proud to announce for the fifth straight year, Riocan REIT has signed on to the naming rights to the Title sponsorship for the Sunday, April 24th event at Downsview Park's Hoopdome.
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| President & CEO, Ed Sonshine and Executive VP & COO, Fred Waks; strong supporters of the State of Israel and the game of basketball seen here when the raps were good in 2006. |
H4I is also thrilled to have the continued support of the following
corporate sponsors for a fifth straight year representing
teams participating in the event:
This event does not happen without the incredible leadership of dedicated volunteers to the cause and gameday logistics. 32 teams, $30,000 worth of in kind product and services and a fund raising goal of $125,000 can only be achieved with the help of the following H4I event chairs for 2011:
We are looking forward to the challenge and are hoping the Toronto Jewish Community will rise up to support this important cause through the support channels of UJA Federation of Greater Toronto and the United Israel Appeal of Canada division.
H4I is a product of Birthright Israel Alumni Community (BAC) and now,
UJA's Community Connect > 'We do just that!'
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If you have a desire to join our volunteer committee, please contact erinc@hoops4israel.com.
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If you are a high school student who would like to earn volunteer
hours and help bring Hoops 4 Israel 2011 to life, please contact elissa@hoops4israel.com.
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If you are a player interested in forming a team to enter the event on
Sunday, April 24th, 2011 at Hoopdome, please contact danielw@hoops4israel.com.
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If you are a company that would like to donate a product or service to help
enhance our ability to reward our fund raising volunteer participants, please contact ordon@hoops4israel.com.
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If you are a company looking to sponsor a TEAM or HOOP
at the event, please contact goodman@hoops4israel.com.
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To learn more about the cause or our annual event, please visit www.hoops4israel.com
or watch this 2010 promotional video by Corbin Visual:
"Hey guys! A huge thank you from me and his family. They also wanted to say that they are happy his name got so far to Canada and his story will be told. We are not taking that for granted.. Thank you all!"
