Zach Hofer's fundraising and awareness campaign for Youth Mental Health is hitting the Georgian College gym for some hoops.
Mayor Jeff Lehman came up with the idea for Baskets for Zach and is hosting the event along with Barrie–Springwater–Oro-Medonte MP Alex Nuttall.
"We're just so proud of this guy. We wanted to do a fundraiser for him before he leaves for Ottawa for Zach Makes Tracks and we were foolish enough to try and involve physical activity," joked Mayor Lehman Wednesday as the trio hit the Georgian College gym.
A celebrity basketball game will take place at the college gym July 26 starting at 6:30 p.m.
There will also be a skills competition featuring a 3 point and free throw marathon with Zach, Lehman and Nuttall where they'll shoot for 10 minutes straight for pledges of $1 per point.
"Zach has set a huge bar for raising dollars for RVH Youth Mental Health," Nuttall said. "Zach will probably beat us pretty bad on the court."
The two teams will be Zach's all-stars 'versus the rest of us,' joked Lehman, but the name of the opposing team is the Government Generals.
Zach, a quiet 13-year-old, plans to run from from Barrie to Ottawa starting Aug. 13 to raise awareness and funds for youth mental health with all proceeds go directly to the RVH Youth Mental Health Program.
He intends to cover about 20 to 25 kilometres a day walking, biking and scooting five days a week with two days of rest.
He has already surpassed his original goal of $10,000 and is now at $30,000 and has a new goal of $50,000.
His mom Shelley says the Mayor chose the right sport for the new fundraiser.
"This is something Zach is super excited about. Basketball is his dream sport. When he was younger he wanted to play for the NBA and he still might do that," said Shelley.
The Hofer's did not expect the huge response from the community that has students creating their own fundraising initiatives and donating the money to Zach Makes Tracks.
Zach receives 'piles of letters' from kids talking about how he's inspiring them and comparing Zach to Terry Fox, according to his mom.
Today he has the opportunity to meet the Snowbird Pilots but Shelley says he chose to attend his year-end class party instead.
His family tries to keep Zach's life as normal as possible amid all the attention and accolades.
"He's not a big fan of public speaking and he's letting the kids know that that's okay. You don't have to scream to be a change maker.
He's doing it through his actions not his words. We're really proud of him."
Zach is scheduled to arrive in Ottawa on Sept. 10 and everyone is invited to join him along his journey.
"People that do fundraising for a living, they can't believe how big this has gotten in how little time," said step-dad Derek Clarke who says he's the 'driver and director of fun' who plans to bike beside Zach.
Everyone is invited to attend the basketball tournament on July 26.
For more information go to https://www.basketsforzach.ca/
