The Central Bucks West at Souderton boys’ basketball game on Friday night will be an SOL Featured Game, sponsored by Millennium Administrators in memory of Mark Picard. Check back for photos and a complete game story.
By Mary Jane Souder
Steve Shaffer has endured his share of setbacks this season.
The Souderton senior was sidelined for two weeks with a concussion he received at the Wissahickon Holiday Tournament. Shortly after his return to the lineup, he suffered a strained MCL and has once again been relegated to watching from the bench. He continues to undergo physical therapy with the hopes of returning to the lineup in the near future.
Not exactly the way Shaffer expected to spend his final high school season, but he admits his plight could be a whole lot worse.
Shaffer’s perspective on life was forever altered last spring when he and his teammates visited the Firely Foundation’s residential home for medically fragile children in Harleysville.
“It definitely gives me a perspective of how these kids can’t walk at all pretty much,” Shaffer said. “With my injury, I was on crutches for a little bit, and that was getting annoying just for a couple of days.
“Not being able to walk your whole life has to be hard, but they’re really positive kids.”
So affected was Shaffer by his introduction to Firely Foundation that he decided to collect shoes for their shoe drive as his senior project.
“We have to do a senior project, and what would be better than helping out Firely,” Shaffer said.
The Souderton senior enlisted the help of family members and friends. He placed shoe collection boxes at various locations, and a local business held a one-day shoe drive, inviting all their employees to donate shoes.
All told, Shaffer collected more than 650 pairs of shoes that he contributed toward Firely’s shoe drive.
“They ship the shoes off to a shoe company that fixes them up, and then they are shipped to a Third World country,” he explained.
None of this would have happened had it not been for his team’s introduction to Firely House that began last year when – as a fundraiser for the basketball team – Styles Unlimited Salon in Harleysville held a Ladies Night Out. The salon’s only request was that 20 percent of the proceeds raised be donated by the team to a local charity.
The team chose Firely, and last spring, the team toured the organization’s home in Harleysville, met some of the children and presented the shoes they had collected as well as a check.
“They told us a little about each kid,” Shaffer said. “It was a good experience to meet some of the kids and try to brighten up their day a little bit.”
In addition to presenting the shoes he collected, Schaffer was able to volunteer some time there as well and had an opportunity to sit down with several of the children who reside in the home.
The connection to Firely House didn’t begin and end with the presentation of the check and shoes. This past Christmas, the team chose two of Firely Foundation’s children from an angel tree and purchased gifts for them. With the extra money they raised, they also were able to purchase turkeys to ensure that all 35 families affiliated with Firely Foundation would have a turkey dinner.
“The business that had bought turkeys in the past only supplied 12 this year,” said Karen Simsick, the mother of sophomore Tracy Simsick and an owner of Styles Unlimited. “We got so much from the families and the boys, and with the amount of money we had left over, we supplied the rest of the families with turkeys.”
Plans are already underway for the next fundraiser, which will be another Ladies Night Out at Styles Unlimited on March 21. Once again 20 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the Firely Foundation.
Giving back to the community, according to coach Pete Chimera, has become a tradition f
or Souderton’s basketball team.
“Every year we kick off the season with a game – usually the first Friday after we make cuts, and we play the North Penn Titans, a Special Olympics team out of North Penn YMCA, in an exhibition game,” the Indians’ coach said. “I think it’s really important to expose kids to how lucky they are to be able to play this great game that we love.
“My predecessor, Dennis Stanton, did that and started the ball rolling. Our kids want to do it and ask – are we going to do something? It’s amazing the way kids react. They aren’t scared, and they have empathy.”
The team’s most recent involvement with Firely Foundation began innocently eno
ugh but has snowballed into something quite special.
Just the facts:
This year’s record: Souderton 4-5 (10-6 overall); Central Bucks West 5-3 (10-5 overall)
Last year’s record: Souderton 15-9 (11-3 SOL Continental Conference); Central Bucks West (8-14 (6-8 SOL Continental Conference)
Last meeting: Dec. 20, 2013 – Souderton 53, Central Bucks West 49 (Souderton: Carter Knight – 19 points, Steve Shaffer - 11 points, Evan Slone – 7 points, Jared Bernhart – 7 points; CB West: Pat Kelley – 19 points, Cal Reichwein – 7 points)
Last game: Hatboro-Horsham 55, Souderton 52 (Tracy Simsick – 16 points, Tim Markow – 11 points, Nick Diehl – 9 points)
Central Bucks West 61, Pennridge 53 (Jared Kelly – 17 points, Pat Kelley 13 points, Evan Dunn – 10 points, Cal Reichwein – 8 points, Kyle Salvitti – 8 points)
Souderton Roster
#0 – Evan Slone, Jr.
#1 – Ty Salone, Soph.
#3 - Carter Knight, Sr.
#10 – Ben Wonderling, Jr.
#12 – Steve Shaffer, Sr.
#15 - Dalton Bowers, Sr.
#21 – Nick Deihl, Sr.
#22 – Tim Markow, Jr.
#23 – Tracy Simsick, Soph.
#30 - Steve Sosnowicz, Jr.
#32 – Dave Brush, Soph.
#33 – Jared Bernhart, Sr.
#35 – Charlie Corraro, Jr.
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