USU students help African students through basketball
Almost four years ago, a Utah State alumna, Katie Rutherford, recognized poverty to be one of the world’s biggest crises and began an organization called Dollars for Change in order to combat this issue. This weekend, a small group of students is putting together a basketball championship to help raise money for Rutherford’s organization in a campaign called Buckets for Change, said Lindsey Robinson, a sociology senior and Buckets for Change member.
The group coordinator, James Brindley, senior in business finance, said he had been wanting to get involved with this organization for quite some time and chose to do so because of its connection with Utah State.
“The main reason was because the girl who started the organization was a USU alumnus who could help us out,” Brindley said.
The organization has a lot of smaller goals and tasks to accomplish in order to achieve the larger goal of helping the poverty crisis, Brindley said.
The campaign isn’t just about improving lives in impoverished countries, but also improving the quality of life on a more local front, Robinson said.
The group’s mission statement states, “As a non-profit organization, we strive to raise awareness about healthy lifestyles for students in Logan, Utah, through recreational basketball tournaments. Our proceeds from these tournaments will directly impact children in Kurland, South Africa, through the foundation Dollars for Change.”
The focus of the entire organization is currently on building up the small township of Kurland, South Africa. Dollars for Change will accomplish this by building schools and recreational facilities to keep community members engaged in constructive work, Rutherford said.
Robinson said, “Making changes here can help make changes in South Africa. Any little bit will help.”
The Utah State group, Buckets for Change, will have their first basketball tournament Saturday. The game consists of two divisions: 18 and older, and younger than 17.
Robinson said those interested can register online at the group’s Web site, bucketsforchange.org. It costs $3 per person to register.
“We’ll also be selling T-shirts and hot dogs. All of the money raised goes to Dollars for Change,” Robinson said.
The event begins at noon, with same-day registration beginning at 10 a.m.
The group has already received donations for the event from community sponsors, Robinson said. These donations include passes to the Sports Academy and the Rock Haus.
“Our goal is to raise $1,000 to help build a school in Kurland. This will help with more permanent things like education,” Robinson said.
Brindley said his group isn’t far from achieving that goal.
“We really only have $200 more to raise and the event hasn’t even happened yet,” Brindley said.
This amount will help with the broader organization Dollars for Change’s goal of raising $300 million dollars to combat poverty, each dollar representing a United States citizen, Robinson said.
Buckets for Change is in need of volunteers. Any students wishing to help with Saturday’s event can contact Robinson at linds.robinso@aggiemail.com.
–beck.turner@aggiemail.usu.edu