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MOUNTIE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL GIVES BACK TO COMMUNITY

MOUNTIE WOMEN'S BASKETBALL GIVES BACK TO COMMUNITY
Posted: Jun 01, 2016

The Mount Aloysius College women's basketball team helped pack bags for the Mountain Lion Backpack group. The Mountain Lion BackPacks is a non-profit corporation providing two breakfasts, two lunches, two dinners, two drinks and two snacks in a backpack to deserving elementary school children in the Altoona Area School District. They give these out every Friday for the weekends over the 32 weeks of the school year from October to May. The Mountain Lion Backpack Program is currently serving nearly 600 students in the Penn Lincoln, Baker and Juniata Gap Schools every weekend. 

In providing school children with food, Mountain Lion Backpacks hopes to nourish their bodies, prepare their minds, and encourage their spirits. The Lady Mounties were able to meet people in the community that prepare the backpacks all year while helping give back to the community. The program is hoping to continue to expand to all eight elementary programs and help as many children as possible. The Lady Mounties will continue to do this every year and look forward to helping young children in the area in any way that they can.

The second project done by the Lady Mounties was called the "Shoot for a Cause." It was the 6th Annual Autism Awareness Charity Basketball Tournament. It is run by Joy Finochio who has three children; Austin 12 years old, Carly 8 years old, and Ryan 2 years old. Ryan was just recently diagnosed with PDD-NOS (Pervasive Developmental Disorder – Not Otherwise Specified), which is on the ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder). He was diagnosed at 21 months which is very young. Most children are not diagnosed until the age of 3 or 4. He exhibited characteristic in several autistic areas.

She attributes his early diagnosis to her years teaching experience at C.W. Longer. Over those years, she has had numerous autistic students in her classroom, and none of those children were the same. Each child was different and unique in their own way. The Lady Mounties ran clocks for the games, sold t-shirts and worked the concession stand. "We are very proud to be apart of this tournament and help raise awareness for autism," stated head coach Kristi Kaack. This year the tournament set a new record this year in raising $10, 357 for the cause.