Healthy hearts: women fundraise to fight heart disease
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POLSON — The squeak of basketball shoes and the rhythmic thud of basketballs came from Linderman Gym, but it was not a high school team playing. To benefit heart health, the Blood Clotters and the Defibrillators were practicing for their face-off at Linderman School gym on April 13 at 7:30 p.m. Admission will be $5 per person, and children 5 and under can get in free. Everybody is asked to wear a red shirt.
Organizer Shelley Croft said she thought up the whole event when she was at Linderman watching her son Garrett play basketball.
“I thought, why isn’t there a basketball team for chubby chicks?” Croft said. “We like to play ball.”
So Croft got busy and talked to friends and businesses in the community. She chose heart disease as a cause, since her mother has heart disease.
Whitefish Credit Union agreed to sponsor the Blood Clotters, and Pizza Cafe in Ronan sponsored the Defibrillators.
For players and cheerleaders, she presented the idea to her friends.
“They all said ‘yes’ because it’s for a fabulous cause,” Croft explained, with a smile.
Croft also thanked the Polson High School cheerleaders and Amy Dever, advisor, for working with the Chubby Chicks basketball cheerleaders.
Both St. Joseph’s and St. Luke’s hospitals donated heart healthy baskets for raffling along with other businesses in the community.
Health Care Plus provided a blood pressure monitor for raffle and red balloons for all the kids. The kids can also kick in a dollar and win a pop if they make a free throw at half-time.
Dance instructor Julia Roberts will bring her little tumblers for half time entertainment before the 50/50 drawing and the basket raffles.
Game night will be jam-packed with events. Before the game, people can buy dinner featuring Subway sandwiches, donated by Polson Subway, or choose from veggie cups, trail mix, popcorn, juice and water.
After some healthy food, the Polson school nurses will be on hand to check blood pressure. Wayne Fuchs of St. Luke Community Healthcare will handle announcing duties, and referees will have a sense of humor and be blind to traveling violations.
“These women — cheerleaders and ball players — are putting themselves out there,” Craft said.
All money raised will go to buy a defibrillator for Linderman gym.
“The main thing,” Croft stressed, “is to draw awareness to heart disease; it really is a silent killer.”
Tickets will be on sale at the Pizza Cafe, Whitefish Credit Union or at the door.
Wear red to support the players and the cause.
