The 2nd Annual Ryan Martin Wheelchair Basketball Camp was a great success. It is with sincere thanks I write this to you. Not being one to ever rest on my laurels, I have begun to embark on my next exciting challenge. I have a goal of establishing a foundation, with the idea of raising money for college scholarships for the athletes who attend my camp. I hope that the support you have shown me in my efforts to establish my basketball camp, will be indicative of future support for the foundation.
As numerous as the benefits are of sports camp for these athletes, in the long term their need for post secondary education is dire. Individuals with disabilities historically have a high rate of unemployment, subsequently they are less likely to obtain a post secondary education. I am in the process of doing all of the legal things to establish my foundation. Under the umbrella of my foundation will be all of my public speaking endeavors, sports camps for kids, and my college scholarship program.
With the increase of sponsors for my basketball camp, I was able to put away a little bit of the money for camp. That along with matching the left over money in the account I will be able to begin my scholarship program. I have four athletes from camp who will attend college in the fall and will be giving out scholarships of $250.00 each. I realize this is not a lot of money, but I hope this will be the first class of athletes that I will be able to assist through my camp! Here is a list of the four athletes I will be sending a check out to this week:
Colleen Rock, who will be attending Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ben Walleck, who will be attending Mitchell College
Rachel Grusse, who will be attending Edinboro University
Andrew Wichman, who will be attending Manchester Community College
I have worked with these four athletes through the Hospital for Special Care Mentorship Program and various sports camp for the last few years. I find these young adults to be great people with tremendous potential. I am happy to assist them in their desire to obtain a college degree. Please feel free to contact me or look at my website (ryanmartinbasketball.org) for more information on this next step.
Thanks for your continued support,
Ryan Martin