Students from all HACC campuses and high schools in Dauphin, Cumberland and Perry Counties as well as members of the community, are invited to participate in Hurricane Hoops, a 3v3 basketball tournament scheduled for Saturday, October 22, beginning at 10 a.m. on the Harrisburg Campus of HACC, Central Pennsylvania's Community College.

Organized as a fundraiser to benefit hurricane victims living along the Gulf Coast, the double elimination tournament will be held in the parking lot next to the James Evans Physical Education Center. Teams are limited to four members, ages 16-40. Only one college varsity player per team is allowed. The entry fee is $5 per team member. Pre-registration by October 19 is preferred and can be done by calling 780-2597 or by sending an email to the email address below.

The tournament is one of several fundraisers HACC students are working on to benefit relief efforts in the wake of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, according to Lynette DiBrito, associate dean, student life.

"The students have pulled together and each organization is working on an area or focus of the fundraising efforts," she said, referring to members of the Student Government Association (SGA), Student Wildwood Activities Team (SWAT), The Fourth Estate (student newspaper), and other interested student organizations. "In addition to the basketball tournament, they are doing a canned food drive, Red Cross change bins and assembling health kits to send to the affected areas."

First-year HACC student Sara Orszulak suggested the basketball tournament idea to the SGA, which quickly put her in charge of organizing the event.

"I knew that Harrisburg was an area that was big on basketball. I knew it would be relatively successful," she said, adding that she wanted to involve the community in the students' efforts. "We're all Americans. We all have to come together to help each other."

Tournament sponsors SGA and SWAT plan to send the money raised through tournament registration fees, the sale of food from a cookout that will run concurrently with the tournament, as well as any free will offering from participants and spectators, to a community college in Louisiana that was impacted by the hurricanes.

For more information on how you can participate in the tournament, please call the SGA office at (717) 780-2597 or send email to to the address below.

The SGA is the umbrella organization for all of the college's student clubs and organizations, including SWAT, which plans social and large-scale events on campus.