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Saturday, February 13, 2010

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Their buckets are for water for Haiti

By JODIE TWEED

Staff Writer

BAXTER - Jake, Devon, Jack, Brady, Arron, Chris, Kobe, Luke and Allen will all tell you the same thing - they love sports.

But the nine sixth-grade boys, all teammates on a Forestview Middle School basketball team, managed to use their skills on the basketball court to make a difference in the lives of those living in the earthquake-ravaged country of Haiti.

Bret Jevning, owner of Cozy Bay Resort north of Merrifield, and his 12-year-old son, Allen, who plays on the team, came up with the idea to raise funds to provide safe drinking water for the people of Haiti.

"I go on mission trips myself and we've raised our family that way, that giving is part of what we do," said Jevning. Allen Jevning said he had read at his own church about another church that hosted a free throw competition to raise donations and he and his dad decided it might be a fun way for his team to do something similar.

The nine members of one of the sixth-grade boys' basketball teams from Forestview Middle School recently raised $2,137 to provide purified drinking water to the people of Haiti by taking pledges for the number of baskets they made during a recent out-of-town tournament. The boys include Allen Jevning (front left), Brady Kline, Luke West, Jack Geraets (back left), Jake Meyers, Kobe Ahonen, Arron Martin, Chris Pederson and Devon Fiedler. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls

Bret Jevning found a nonprofit global health organization, PSI, that was working to provide safe drinking water to Haiti. For 50 cents, the organization can provide safe, purified drinking water for a family of four in Haiti for a month. Administrative costs for the organization, according to its Web site, psi.org, are low - 6.2 percent in 2006 - and the Jevnings believed it was a worthy charity. They asked Allen's coach, Mike Day, and the rest of the team if they'd like to do a fundraiser and everyone agreed.

"We thought it would be nice to help Haiti," said team member Luke West. The team only had five days to seek out people who would pledge money for each basket they made during their Jan. 23-24 tournament in St. Michael. The boys said they hit up their teachers, parents, families and friends to pledge money. Their sponsors also had an opportunity to double their donations if the boys won any of their three games at the tourney.

The boys said Thursday that they worked hard that weekend, trying to score as many baskets as they could.

"It didn't matter how hard we were losing by, we just tried our best because we knew we were raising money for Haiti," explained Allen Jevning.

The team took third in the tournament but they still felt like winners. They earned a total of 90 points, raising $2,137.

So the team earned enough money to provide safe drinking water for 4,274 families of four in Haiti for one month.

"It makes me feel proud," said team member Kobe Ahonen.

"It feels like we made a difference," added Allen Jevning.

"We helped families get clean water," said Jake Meyers.

Bret Jevning said he didn't let the boys know this before the tournament, but one of his friends pledged to donate $15 per point if they had won the entire tourney. He didn't want the boys to feel pressured to win.

"I think it's pretty neat," Jevning said of the boys' efforts. "I just think it's unbelievable that these nine boys put this together, that they raised that kind of money. The neatest thing about it was here were nine kids doing something they'd have been doing anyway and they were able to take a current event and people in need and go out and generate money while doing what they like to do."

All nine boys have played on the same basketball team together for the past two years. They were to compete at a tourney at Forestview and Brainerd High School this weekend but don't have any plans to raise funds for other causes in the immediate future.

Ahonen said he'd do it again, though.

"Because it's fun and we know we're helping out," Ahonen explained.

JODIE TWEED may be reached at jodie.tweed@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5858.

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