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YCS: Converting from the charity stripe
(by K. Darius Amos - January 02, 2008)
In sports and the basketball world, converting on free throw attempts has a direct correlation on the outcome of any hardwood game. The equation is simple; connect on the foul shots and the team, in most cases, will win.
Last Sunday, Youth Consultation Service was the team on the brink, and a handful of volunteers and concerned residents attending the annual Hoop-A-Paluza carnival in Millburn controlled the team’s destiny. But it was hardly a sports event, rather the program was a major fundraiser for YCS and five other charities in and around Hackensack.
For three hours, residents throughout northern New Jersey frolicked around Millburn High School, the host of the sixth installation of Hoop-A-Paluza, and enjoyed moon bounces and inflatable slides, and arts and crafts and face painting. The family-oriented event was free for all registered participants.
The main attraction, however, was the free throw shooting contest. Volunteers attempted to sink as many shots as possible in 20 attempts; the more successful attempts, the more money donated to the individual causes. Out-of-practice participants also lucked out, as flat-rate pledging was also an option.
Owen Broomes was one of the scheduled free throw shooters last Sunday, but the pressure was off his shoulders — a severe calf injury gave him a limp and kept him off his feet. But the Fair Lawn resident and a YCS administrator for nearly two decades kept up his end of the bargain.
“One of our older kids has partnered with me and he’ll shoot,” Broomes told The Chronicle last week.
Broomes wasn’t about to leave YCS, particularly the children at the Hackensack-based YCS Holley Child Care and Development Center, without a shooter. In fact, he almost preferred that someone else took his spot.
“He’s one of our older kids, and we’re also going to bring the little ones from the center to cheer him on. By having the kids there and cheering for him, it will give him inspiration and make him feel like he’s family,” Broomes said.
The money raised from the shoot will be used to fund new projects and purchase equipment at the Holley Child Care Center. According to Broomes, the facility on Union Street contains a simple sandbox and old, wooden playground equipment. Children at the center might get sick, he said, if rain dampens the sandbox. The splintering wood also presents a major hazard.
“We have 67 kids at the Holley Center. Any funds raised will go toward some well-needed playground equipment,” said Broomes, who has dedicated a good portion of his life toward the betterment of children’s lives.
“Our kids are special and they need certain things.”
About YCS
Although YCS is one of the largest non-profit organizations in New Jersey, Broomes and the group’s staff do not lose focus and keep in mind that the children are their top priority. Though Hoop-A-Paluza funds will benefit the Holley Center playground, other YCS facilities are still in dire need of aid.
“We have two other gyms that are in need of repair. Maybe we’ll get Hoop-A-Paluza to help us with those projects next year,” he said. “We just have to find way to help out our children and our staff. Hoop-A-Paluza is just one opportunity.”
YCS offers behavioral health and social services to needy and vulnerable children and their families. It provides close to 100 programs throughout the state that cater to these children. Foster care, safe havens, special education and mentoring programs, among others, are available through YCS.
Broomes heads one of YCS’s sleep-away camps, in which more than 150 campers join him on an outdoor excursion. According to Broomes, who has become an icon within the YCS organization, he has celebrated his last 18 birthdays while on the private camps, and he hasn’t had one regret.
“I guess I’m like a father figure for many of them,” said Broomes, who as a 5-year-old child was playing with his own father when he suffered a heart attack. “It’s important for me to continue this. I still love working for and with the kids.”
“The work never stops. We all just have a love for what we do.”
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