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.
