Kelsey Klont
Contributing Writer
(Photo Provided)
Hooping For A Cure has been a benefit fundraiser for breast cancer awareness at Charlotte High School for the last 17 years. It began in 2007, led by Brent Crossman, an outstanding and longtime history teacher at Charlotte High School. Crossman started this annual event to raise awareness about the disease after his mother was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Since then, Hooping For A Cure quickly became a community favorite with a students versus staff basketball game, raffle of amazing items, and an overall fun experience for a great cause.
Recently, the position became available for organizing the annual Hooping For A Cure event when Crossman retired in 2023.
Last fall, Karen Tomlinson was in charge of the fundraiser for the Pinkout Football game, which also raises funds and awareness for breast cancer. Tomlinson is the Transportation Administrative Assistant at the bus garage for Charlotte Public Schools. She came to know Crossman through his use of the school vans for the golf teams he also coached.
In 2023, she wanted to get involved with Hooping For A Cure and started by doing a raffle package for Hooping For A Cure. Now she and Mike Sparks, the Assistant Athletic Director of Charlotte Public Schools, are partnering this year to continue on the longstanding tradition of this community favorite event. Sparks is forming the student and staff teams and Tomlinson is doing the outreach for Hooping For A Cure.
Tomlinson, a breast cancer survivor, was diagnosed in 2021 and became even more passionate about cancer research and helping cancer patients. She knows how important fuel cards are for cancer patients to get to their treatments.
So, this year all of the funds raised from Hooping For A Cure will be going to Pure Hearts of Michigan, a local non-profit organization that provides fuel cards exclusively for all cancer patients, not just breast cancer. Tomlinson has been working alongside Sabrina Sickenberger Newton, founder of Pure Hearts of Michigan, to make sure the money raised from this local event stays within Eaton County.
Come out and support the 17th Annual Hooping For A Cure on Saturday, March 9, 2024 at 6 p.m. in the Dome Gymnasium at Charlotte High School.
