Participants battled at the rim during Northwestern’s Alpha Mu Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha’s 3-on-3 charity basketball tournament Saturday.
Alpha Mu raised $50 in addition to collecting donated canned goods, Weinberg junior and Alpha Mu member Adam Wiseman said. One of the event’s organizers, Wiseman said the tournament’s ultimate goal was to build community and foster healthy competition.
With the weather improving, Wiseman said basketball was the best activity to involve more people while building community. Students from multiple schools, including NU, DePaul University and the University of Chicago, participated in the tournament.
“People, when they come to college specifically, tend to feel like they miss something,” Wiseman said. “That’s why a lot of people turn to drugs and alcohol to kind of feed that emptiness, so we provide fun, alternative and healthy ways for people to meet each other.”
Alpha Phi Alpha is a member of the National Pan-Hellenic Council and one of eight historically Black sororities and fraternities at NU.
Four participating teams from several schools in the area paid a $10 entry fee and received a $1 discount for every five cans of food they brought, according to the fraternity’s Instagram.
Half of the tournament’s proceeds will be used to buy more canned goods for Care for Real, a Chicago-based nonprofit organization combating food insecurity in low-income communities, Wiseman said. The other half of the money will go to the victorious team.
“It’s just nice seeing a bunch of people come out and support the organization and the cause we are fighting for,” Wiseman said.
For Weinberg junior and Alpha Mu member Harrison Smith, coming out to watch the game was all about investing in the community — both at Northwestern and locally.
The event was initially planned for the basketball courts outside Foster-Walker Complex, but strong winds and cold temperatures moved the tournament to Henry Crown Sports Pavilion.
The weather, Smith said, didn’t deter him.
“We could have postponed it, but it’s just about trying to have fun with each other at the end of the day, come together to do something for a good cause,” Smith said.
Communication junior and Alpha Mu member Tyler Gant said his favorite sport growing up was basketball because of the energy and competition.
Basketball also brings people together, he said.
“Being able to have fun and also give back to people who don’t have as much as we do is everything,” Gant said.
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