JV/V boys basketball games – “Give Kids a Smile”

I am the coach of our AMHS Varsity Cheer team. We hosted one of our Avon’s boy’s basketball games to support the national Give Kids a Smile day, which is celebrated on the first Friday of February. Our communities were encouraged to bring in a kid’s toothbrush, toothpaste, new markers, crayons, colored pencils, or a coloring book as a donation. All donations will be given to Cradles to Crayons, which is a non-profit founded in Quincy MA that provides resources to homeless and low-income children. The AMHS Cheer team took inventory and our community donated 541 items!

Because Cradles to Crayons color is purple, we encouraged Avon and West Bridgewater fans to wear purple. The Cheer team wore purple knee socks and decorated the gym in purple. Community members who participated received purple Thank You stickers to wear throughout the event.

All 16 of my athletes and my team manager (total of 17) contributed to making this event a success. AMHS is a Middle-High School so I have grades 7-12 on my team. If we include preparation for the event, the event itself, and post-activities, I would estimate 9 hours of service towards our Give Kids a Smile Game.

Avon is a small community, as our Middle-High School has a total of roughly 300 students across grades 7-12. We are a choice school for the surrounding communities so it was amazing to see the generosity and support from everyone! Our plan is to make this an annual event every winter cheer season and hope that it grows even more!