LEWISBURG – The 12th Annual Dirk Sojka Slam Dunk to benefit Suncom Industries is set for Saturday. The annual fundraiser will be held during the Bucknell men’s basketball game as Bucknell takes on Holy Cross at 2 p.m. at the Sojka Pavilion.
The event is in honor of Dirk Sojka, who was a client at Suncom Industries and the son of Gary and Sandy Sojka. Peggy Vitale is executive director of Suncom Industries of Northumberland and says they work with people who have developmental and physical disabilities, to improve their quality of life.
Vitale said, “As long as Suncom has been around in the community, for almost 50 years, we provide services for adults with disabilities. We help about 500 individuals in a five county region. At the big building in Northumberland, we have approximately 140 people working and learning skills. We work for area businesses and then we also have a Community Unity program, and that’s giving them an opportunity to join the community, volunteer and be active in the community.”
At the event, Suncom individuals get a chance to play basketball with the team before the game. Head Coach Nathan Davis is proud to take part in the fundraiser, “The community is so supportive. You want to do whatever you can in the community to help out and make things a little better for anyone you can. Our guys are pretty lucky. They get a chance to go to a great university. They get a chance to play basketball. It’s good for them to be around people that don’t have as much as they have and see that there is another side of life and that it’s important as you move forward and its part of your education that you need to help out. You need to give up your time and do things to give other people a better daily life, or a better experience, so that’s something we want to continue doing.”
At the game, there will be a large silent auction, a raffle and other activities. You can find more information at www.suncom.org. (Ali Stevens)