The founders of the Stop the Violence basketball tournament are expanding their mission to include fundraising efforts to improve the Horton Avenue park where the tournament is staged each summer.
The basketball court needs new backboards, tournament founder Dwayne Eleazer said. The poles that hold the backboards need padding — cushions previously purchased were stolen he said. And the group that’s gotten together to raise funds for court improvements is hoping to raise enough cash to buy and install a scoreboard, he said.
“We’ve been keeping score with a tabletop scoreboard,” Eleazer said. “We want to step our game up.”
They’ve planned a dinner-dance at the Riverhead Moose Lodge on Saturday, June 3, from 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. Tickets — $55 per person or $100 per couple — include a buffet dinner and a four-hour open bar, Eleazer said. DJ Derrick is donating his services to provide music for the evening.
This marks the double-elimination tournament’s 11th year. Played each August on the Horton Avenue court, it draws players from all over the tri-state area.
The concept of the tournament is to stop street violence by providing an environment where people can make acquaintances, get to know each other and build friendships, according to Larry Williams who founded the tournament with Eleazer and works with him each year to organize it.
“We’re trying to build friendships and respect,” Eleazer said in an interview last year. “When people get to know each other, they are less likely to engage in violent behavior,” he said.
Plans are already in the works for a second fundraiser this summer, a “seafood fest,” Eleazer said. The place and date are still to be determined, but it will likely take place in July.
The neighborhood park, where the courts got a new epoxy surface last year, is a “community gem,” Eleazer said. “We want to help make it even nicer.”
Reservations for the dinner-dance are required. Tickets may be reserved by emailing: knickchick@optonline.net.
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