Doing what you love is a sure way to raise money for charity as a group of Wollongong Hawks fans discovered when they organised a 24-hour basketball shooting marathon at the weekend.
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The free throw competition at the Snake Pit included 15 volunteers, most of them members of the Hawks' pit crew and three of their children sinking basketballs non-stop from Friday 6pm.
Resting weary muscles, event organiser Brett Denniss who slept a marathon 14 hours after the event and spent much of yesterday recovering, said it was well worth the effort to raise money for Camp Quality and the RSPCA.
"We chose Camp Quality because some of us have friends with sick children and the RSPCA as many of us have adopted pets from the centre," said Mr Denniss. "They are two organisations that are close to some of our members at the moment."
The tables were turned as many Hawks players, including Rotnei Clarke, Tim Coenraad, Dave Gruber, Dom Cooks and Tyson Demos, took time out to support their die-hard fans.
The pit crew is a group of volunteers who sit at centre court during Hawks games making as much noise as possible to motivate the crowd. Having the players turn up to cheer them on for a change was a welcome boost.
"It felt really good to have them come out and support us. We really appreciated it," said Mr Denniss. "As well as the players we estimate about 100 people came along to the Snake Pit to donate money and encourage us. We don't know how much we raised yet as many people donated directly to the two charities and we're still waiting for the results to come in."
Mr Denniss said it wasn't just about the money, the volunteers also wanted to raise awareness for the RSPCA and Camp Quality over the Christmas period which is traditionally a time when families with sick kids do it tough and gift pets are abandoned.
