Aug 30, 2018
Since our inception in 1994, more than 25,000 children have attended MVP Basketball Camp and more than 6,000 have received full scholarships. No deserving child has ever been turned away simply due to an inability to afford camp tuition.
MVP’s mission evolved from the belief that in our increasingly fragmented society it is more and more difficult for children from different socioeconomic backgrounds to meet and share an experience together. “MVP” typically stands for “Most Valuable Player,” but at this camp “MVP” signifies “Most Valued Person” because there is so much more to basketball, and for that matter to life, than being the high scorer. MVP uses basketball to teach goal setting, fair play, leadership, perseverance, and hard work in order to make the most of each camper’s individual talents.
This summer, MVP once again, brought in over 300 campers on scholarship. During our June 25th week, 66 campers came to us from three organizations. The Theodore D. Young Center in Greenburgh, Abbott House, and Jefferson Elementary School in New Rochelle, supplied the 66 deserving young campers along with bus transportation to and from their sites. During the week of July 23rd, 40 campers from Mount Vernon’s Boys and Girls Club, the NewFlex Hoops team, and Off the Streets came up from Mount Vernon and a group from the Coachman Center in White Plains also took advantage of our scholarship program. Three more groups from Yonkers participated in our last week at camp. 24 children from the Andrus Center, Hostos, and KICs took advantage of our scholarship program.
In total, MVP provided 313 weeks of scholarships for Westchester children this summer. Our scholarship children are not the only beneficiaries of these experiences. Parents of tuition campers value that their children are getting a “worldly experience” so close to home. They are making friendships that could not be made just in their immediate community.
Jun 18, 2017
As the cost of renting great facilities rises dramatically, MVP basketball Camp has to find new ways to support it’s large scholarship program without raising tuition on paying campers. So MVP Executive Director and avid golfer Noel Muyskens is launching MVP’s first golf outing at the prestigious Fenway Golf Club in Scarsdale, NY, along with the support of board members and friends in the Westchester Business Council.
If you like to play golf, you’ll love this A.W. Tillinghast design located less than two miles from MVP’s primary summer facility. The event will kick off on October 11, 2017 with lunch at 11:30 and end with a happy hour including awards and a brief presentation on MVP’s mission. 2017 will mark the 23rd year for the camp and the 10th consecutive year with more than 300 scholarship weeks awarded to under-resourced children.
Please follow this link to sign up for our Tee It Up Fore Kids event.
Mar 8, 2017
MVP Basketball Camp is all about fun programing for kids, and even the annual fundraiser to support camp scholarships is tailored to the whole family. Think golf or bowling outing except its organized around a paddle and a ping pong ball. And who doesn’t love ping pong?
Famed New York Times Crossword Puzzle editor Will Shortz hosts this event at his world class Westchester Table Tennis Center in Pleasantness, NY. This year’s date is Friday, March 31 from 6:30 – 10pm. Play all night if you like, and join one of our tournaments if you want to compete for prizes, or just hang out where the food and drinks are served and meet the great people who run this award-winning basketball camp.
You can also meet a few of the kids you benefit through your support of this event; some of the three hundred under-resourced campers who receive an entire week of summer camp at no cost through MVP’s Scholarship Program. Our founder Stan Greene was fond of saying, “The world may be better because you were important in the life of a child.” Today I think we can take that one step further. “Tomorrow’s adults may be better because you were important in bringing together children from vastly different economic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds.”
Tickets for the event are $40 for adults, $20 for children, or $100 for an entire family. The event will feature silent auction and raffle items. Even if you can’t attend the event, consider sponsoring a child, buying our “Make the Assist” clothing, or jumping into our NCAA March Madness Bracket Challenge for just $10 per bracket (must be in by noon on March 16). All these items can be bought at one site:
http://mvpbasketballcamp.org/product/ping-pong-madness-fundraiser/
Apr 15, 2016
NY Times Crossword Puzzle Editor Will Shortz has become famous to puzzle solvers across America, as well as weekend NPR listeners who hear his voice regularly. But Will’s association with MVP Basketball Camp started because of his other passion, ping pong.
Will owns the Westchester Table Tennis Center, a 14,000 square foot facility with 19 tables that MVP has called home to its annual Ping Pong Madness fundraiser since 2011. According to an article in Sports Illustrated, Will has not missed playing ping pong one day since October 3, 2012, when the club he visited during a trip to Croatia closed early before he got there.
Now Will Shortz has graciously chosen MVP Basketball Camp as his charity of choice to benefit from an event sponsored by the Journal News. The puzzle master will play interactive games with the audience for one hour prior to a special showing of the documentary film “Word Play” at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on Central Avenue in Yonkers. Advance tickets can be purchased at https://tickets.lohud.com/
Jan 15, 2016
MVP Basketball Camp’s fifth annual evening of games, food, and drink will benefit MVP’s Youth Development Scholarship Program. Last year’s event raised almost $20,000, which by itself funded 60 of the 300 scholarships that MVP granted to children whose families couldn’t afford summer camp tuition.
Join us Friday, April 1 for socializing, ping pong, and lots of food and drink. The event takes place at the Westchester Table Tennis Center in Pleasantville, NY. We’ll feature great raffle prizes and silent auction items. If you can’t make it, you can still call us at 914-946-1231 in advance and place your bid on a few select auction items including a signed Kevin Durant Thunder jersey and a signed Kristaps Porzingis 16X20 photo.
There will be plenty of special activities for kids at the event including a magician. Attendees can test their skills in one of two ping pong tournaments (one for ages 14 and under and the other for adults.) Or just find an open table and challenge you someone you know to a friendly game.
Although club owner Will Shortz of NPR and NY Times fame will be out of town, we’ll give away signed copies of his crossword puzzle books. Other raffle items include $100 gift cards for Tommie Copper merchandise, lift tickets to Thunder Ridge for next winter, and plenty of gift certificates for local restaurants. The event will run from 6:30pm until 10pm. In case of snow, the reschedule date will be Sunday of that same weekend with a little earlier start and end time.
Flyer w/ Application
On-line Event Registration
If you can’t attend, you can make a tax deductible donation online anytime and help us keep founder Stan Greene’s vision alive. MVP has never turned away a camper due to an inability to pay, although we only accept students who demonstrate effort in the classroom.
Apr 24, 2015
60 scholarships now possible
MVP Basketball Camp raised enough money this past Sunday at it’s annual Ping Pong Madness fundraiser to cover the tuition of sixty children for the upcoming summer basketball camp. In the process, a lot of fun was had whacking ping pong balls around the Westchester Table Tennis Center in Pleasantville, New York. Attendees of the event tested their skills in a tournament or just challenged a friend, and between games there was plenty of food, drink, and other entertainment for the whole family.
Sponsors
There are too many people to thank in one article, but we should start with our gold level sponsors:
– The Rosenberg family
– The Samberg family
– The Nossel family
– The Gelfman family
– The Scherr family
– David and Fay Paget
Also generous donations of food and wine were received from:
– Whole Foods of White Plains
– Trader Joe’s of Hartsdale
– Captain Lawrence
Brewery in Elmsford
– Hilltop Wines in Chappaqua
– La Famiglia Pizza in Katonah
– Martine’s in Scarsdale
– Lulu’s in Scarsdale
– Patisserie Salzburg in Scarsdale
– Scarsdale Pizza Station
Oliver Gibbons of Bronxville won the open division tournament. Aaron DiChristina (right) beat his friend Logan Baumgartner (left) to take home the trophy in the 13 and under age group.
Magician Joe Fields entertained the young kids while the older ones gravitated to the TV to watch the Brooklyn Nets opening round playoff game. Silent auction tables attracted plenty of attention, thanks in large part to the memorabilia items offered up by our friends at Steiner Sports.
MVP also featured its newest camp video, which you can watch now on Vimeo.
MVP Basketball Camp is a 501 c3 Charitable organization with a mission to give as many camp scholarships as possible to children whose parents can’t afford camp tuition. You can make an online donation anytime at mvpbasketballcamp.org/donation
