Lots of fun with charity basketball game at Holley
Penny Cole named winner of McDonald’s Community Service Award
Photos by Tom Rivers
HOLLEY – The Holley faculty and staff team, including social studies teacher Mike Crissman (center), is all smiles at a pep talk just before a charity basketball game on Monday evening in Holley.
The Holley teachers and staff won 60-32 in the game versus law enforcement officers in Orleans County. Holley started the game on a 15-0 run. About 300 people attended the game which was a benefit for the Ronald McDonald House in Rochester.
The event raised $4,444, by far the most in the 12 years Holley has been raising money for the Ronald McDonald House.
Several people tried their luck with half-court shots at halftime. Younger kids were able to get much closer to the basket, including Brynn Thomas, a Holley second-grader. Mike Sander, a referee for the game, hands the ball to Brynn. Her father, Mark Thomas (in back) played for the Holley faculty team. Thomas teaches seventh and eighth grade English at Holley.
Orleans County Sheriff Randy Bower, a Holley graduate, coached the law enforcement team. Bower used to coach the Holley girls varsity basketball team. Many of the law enforcement team members who played on Monday were Holley graduates.
The Ronald McDonald House provides a place for families to stay while their children are hospitalized. Penny Cole, center, has organized several benefits for the Ronald McDonald House in recent years at Holley. She is shown announcing the winner of a 50-50 raffle.
“I think it’s a great cause,” she said.
Matt DeSimone, left, is a Holley student who served as announcer for the game. Julia Buck, the cheerleader, was hospitalized for five days in Rochester last summer after a boating accident at Brockport. Her mother was able to stay in the Ronald McDonald House.
Roxanne Wagner won the 50-50 raffle and donated the $170.50 to the Ronald McDonald House.
Representatives from the Ronald McDonald House High School All-Star Basketball Games attended the benefit game in Holley and announced that Penny Cole was a unanimous choice for the McDonald’s community service award for her efforts to raise money for the Ronald McDonald House.
David Dence, from the Ronald McDonald All-Star Basketball Game, gives Penny Cole a hug after announcing to the crowd she will receive a community service award for her work raising money for the Ronald McDonald House. She will be honored on March 21 at a banquet for the upcoming all-star game.
Holley cheerleaders celebrate after Cole was announced as a community service award winner. Cole and her daughter Heather Kelley are the cheerleading coaches.
The cheerleaders, including Kylie Towne, performed during halftime. The group recently finished second in the Genesee-Region League and third at Sectionals. Penny Cole and Heather Kelley were named the cheerleading coaches of the year for Section V and the G-R League.
Kennedy Jones and the cheerleaders gave a high-energy performance at halftime.
There were about 80 baskets up for raffle during the benefit.
Sal DeLuca, a former Holley Board of Education member, chats with some vocal members of the student body. DeLuca was one of the referees for the game.
