Bridgehampton - One afternoon last summer, Mark Crandall, founder and executive director of Hoops 4 Hope, a non-profit organization that supports sports and youth development in Zimbabwe and South Africa, came home to Amagansett after another six-month stint in southern Africa, where he splits his time. The garage door went up, and like that, he received another reminder of just how far his grassroots operations had come.

"My two-car garage was full of sneakers," he recalled, estimating that 6,000 pairs were collected.

University of Kansas Head Coach Bill Self (left) convenes with another championship coach, Doc Rivers of the Boston Celtics, at Saturday's benefit. Benefit photos by Aaron Boyd

Over the years, Hoops 4 Hope, which held its annual benefit in Bridgehampton on Saturday, July 26, has drawn the attention of people all around the globe, and especially North America, who are eager to pitch in. Five kids from New York City ran a basketball tournament and collected 3,000 pairs in one day, and next week from H4H's Vancouver, B.C., station, more than 10,000 pairs will be delivered overseas.

Contributions don't stop at shoes. Last year, a school bus was delivered to the region. The storage bins in which the Vancouver shipment is sent will be converted into a youth center, complete with computers, a library and sporting equipment, outside Cape Town, at a price tag of roughly $20,000. Financial contributions are also welcome.

"You can only imagine what goes through their heads," Crandall said. "It's way more than a pair of sneakers. They believe that there is somebody out there that cares for them. That hope is going to keep these kids positive that times can change for them."

Crandall, 40, first visited southern Africa 25 years ago as a 15-year-old rotary exchange student in Zimbabwe. He called the experience "life-changing" and the description is certainly apropos. In 1994, Crandall returned to Zimbabwe to run a series of sports camps. He also went out of his way to investigate the country's school system as well as the physical and mental condition of its students. He discovered that many children were orphans, sometimes two times over, their family having been ravaged by civil war and the HIV epidemic that still afflicts the community. Classrooms consisted of 60-75 kids, and very little was in place after school, during which time kids were most at-risk.

Courtesy of donations hailing from all over the globe, children are equipped with sharp-looking uniforms and sneakers.

A year later, he founded Hoops 4 Hope, which has taught life skills to kids while also hosting basketball tournaments and leagues where kids are equipped with uniforms and sneakers. Programs such as Soccer 4 Hope and Chess 4 Hope have spawned from the hoops version, adding even more options for African children of all ages. The clinics, which more than 10,000 school-age children have attended since the organization first touched down in the region, are about life skills first, with sports acting as a vehicle to break down barriers and address the daily issues that children face.
"Everybody is affected by the epidemic of HIV," Crandall said. "It's hurting the most productive people. I think prevention is often left out of the equation. It's something that you can prevent if you're smart. This allows them to have fun, and we use the fun to infuse the information that they need on a daily basis."

Kids are coming full circle in the program. One of the options for natives is to advocate for the organization's goals and values as a coach or volunteer, from stations in three Zimbabwean cities as well as Cape Town, South Africa. From there, children are often channeled to the countries' thriving hotel, hospital and wine industries.

"When you're poor, you don't know what tomorrow's going to bring," Crandall said. "You're living in the moment. It's also very difficult to talk about the future and doing something today that will affect you in a couple years."

From left to right, Atlanta Hawks Coach Mike Woodson, University of Kansas Head Coach Bill Self, sports writer and event host Mike Lupica, former Knicks coach Larry Brown, and Boston Celtics Head Coach Doc Rivers.

At the benefit, Doc Rivers, head coach of the NBA champion Boston Celtics, Larry Brown, Mike Woodson and Bill Self, who led Kansas to an NCAA title, convened at the house of New York Daily News columnist Mike Lupica for the 10th annual Hoops 4 Hope benefit, which raised approximately $150,000 for the development of academic and sports programs at more than 150 schools in southern Africa.

Among its many services, Hoops 4 Hope builds basketball courts and organizes leagues and tournaments in southern Africa.

Rivers was awarded the Hoops 4 Hope Ubuntu Award, which, named after a term in Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of Desmond Tutu is given yearly to a person who embodies the message of the organization. Rivers preached the philosophy in locker room speeches during the Celtics' run to the NBA title.

"It's a great word that means 'a person is a person through other people' " Rivers said Saturday.

Requests have come in to open chapters in the Philippines, India and elsewhere in Africa, modeled after the organization's structure. Crandall spends half his year in Amagansett, and runs the East Hampton Sports Camp every summer. For the other six months, he's changing the lives of children in southern Africa one by one, much like southern Africa once changed his life a quarter-century ago. Wherever he is, Hoops 4 Hope is a year-round and lifelong commitment.

"I've worked with the top HIV experts in South Africa, as well as different groups here in America, to innovate exercises and role plays that get into kids' heads to give them confidence and tools to make the right decisions in life so they can be responsible, as well as give them a place to have fun," Crandall said. "For me, it's humbling and rewarding and challenging all at the same time."

African music was played throughout the evening, which also included silent auctions with unique sports memorabilia.