Return to Big Day of Giving
When SASF was in its infancy, so was my young basketball career. In the first SASF basketball tournament, we were too young to play, so we filled into an older division of girls teams. We lost and I cried.
But as SASF grew and matured, so did I. I remember the sweltering gyms during summer league when the SASF facility was just an ambition. I remember the pace of incoming bowls filled with crab shells at the dishwashing station. And during all of it, I remember being side-by-side with friends. Into our adolescence, SASF’s reach grew, its goals came closer to fruition, and I kept participating in and benefiting from its programs, using them to forge and solidify friendships and, above all, have fun.
SASF is now a mature organization. Its facility, once merely a dream, is a reality. And due in part to the things I learned and the people I met through SASF-run programs and events, I too have grown, matured, and accomplished some of the things in my life that were once mere ambitions. But it is only now, with the advantage of hindsight, that I can truly appreciate how the experiences SASF facilitated have enriched my life. Along with other community organizations, they taught me about responsibility, leadership, and integrity.
This period in the life cycle of both my own story and the organization’s—now firmly staring down middle age—allows for introspection and refocusing of one’s energy. I am thankful and proud to have been a part of the SASF’s history and I am excited to watch from afar as SASF uses its programmatic offerings to confront the multifaceted challenges of today. Going forward, SASF is uniquely positioned to help develop young men and women of character who understand the power of solidarity, who are unafraid to be leaders who reach across imagined borders, and who have the integrity to work to expand opportunities to those who might otherwise be left behind. Growing up, I never realized what would be possible for SASF, but I am happy to see both what it has become and the promise it shows for the next generation.