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CARMEL- Carmel Rotarians kicked off their 18th annual Carmel Rotary Basketball Challenge Thursday with a goal to raise $70,000 by the time baskets are made at the Carmel High School gymnasium on March 1.
Challenge co-chairs Al Lotrecchiano and Mary Shanley encouraged organizations, clubs, adults and youth along with local businesses to sign up and raise money for their favorite non-profit.
“It’s easy and fun,” said Lotrecchiano. “You don’t have to be a basketball player or know how to play the game to participate.”
Shanley said “participants ask for pledges per basket or a flat donation from as many supporters as they can muster. Baskets are shot during a two-minute period.”
The Rotary’s goal is off to a good start since more than $13,000 has already been pledged.
Since 2006, the challenge has raised more than $675,000 for 91 non-for-profits countywide.
Lotrecchiano traced the history of the Challenge. In 1979, the Carmel and Lake Mahopac Rotary chapters conducted what was called the “Rotary Shootout” when $6,700 was raised. Baskets were pledged each year through 1989 when the fundraiser was discontinued.
It was updated in 2008 when $6,500 was raised and then it took off years later with $70,000 raised in 2020, $62,000 in 2021, $66,000 in 2022 and another $65,000 last year.
It was noted 90 percent of all monies raised are returned directly to the organization for which pledges are made with the remaining 10 percent going towards scholarships and other programs sponsored by Rotary.
The 18th Annual Carmel Rotary Community Basketball Challenge will be dedicated to our beloved fellow Rotarian, the late Eileen Kane Barrett. Eileen lost her battle with cancer on November 29, 2024.
Photo - Mike McDonough
CARMEL – Toddlers to senior citizens were congratulated over the weekend at the annual Carmel Rotary picnic for shooting the most baskets in their age category during the Rotary’s 16th annual Community Basketball Challenge. It surpassed expectations and raised $67,000 for dozens and dozens of organizations.
Children as young as three joined seasoned citizens in their mid- to late-70s by shooting baskets during a two-minute span that raised money for the participant’s favorite charity.
Since 2008 more than $650,000 has been raised for dozens of local, regional and national organizations.
Putnam County’s most tenured Rotarian Al Lotrecchiano recalled how in the late 1970s, each Rotary Club in Putnam took part in a basketball shootout and through 1991 when the program ceased, more than $250,000 had been collected for a variety of charities.
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