From The Readers

As many of you know, my father and I co-founded a nonprofit organization in the fall of 2013, “Experience the Game.” We work towards giving children who come from lowerincome families the opportunity to experience professional sporting events as well as meet their idols and role models.

In the recent weeks, many of you have asked if we are going to continue our work with the organization. The answer to that is YES!

For those of you that don’t know, on Saturday, November 22nd, my father took a group of 7 children to attend a basketball game. After a successful event, my father was a victim to something that our recipients fear of everyday…violence. As my father was just blocks away from the stadium, he was pulled out of his vehicle by four men. These men brutally beat him with a bat and cut him with a knife. Fortunately, my father does not remember much of the events that transpired after the game. After he was able to make his way back to his car, he called for help and was taken to the hospital. In addition to the bruising all across his body, he required over 85 stitches on both arms and legs.

Here, my father was doing a charitable act and giving back to the community, trying to take these children out of a rough environment for at the very least, a few hours. It is so unfortunate that people are subject to violence in communities across our nation. This was a random act of violence and again, is something that our recipients are faced with every day.

We have since decided to take a couple months off to recover both mentally and physically from this event. We now have more motivation than ever as we strive to achieve the mission SUBSCRIPTION of our organization. We want to improve the lives of our recipients and give them opportunities they would never have, removing them from horrible situations similar to this one.

Our next event will be on January 17th with the Memphis Grizzlies.

I want to thank you all so much for taking the time to read my letter and I hope that you continue to monitor the progress of our organization.

On behalf of my father and I, along with our 227 recipients, we want to wish you and your family a very Happy and Healthy New Year and Holiday Season!

Alex Sheck
President and co-founder

Experience The Game
My charge to Black America

If black people believe that the Justice System is destroying our community and treating us like animals then the worst possible response is to destroy our own community and to act like animals. Rioting and violence is counter-productive and will never solve our problems. We must have an open and honest dialogue not based on anger and emotions. During the civil rights movement there was a focus on family and faith. We sang hymns and prayed for God’s help. We carried ourselves with dignity, we fought for equal opportunity and education and we did not endorse disrespect or bad behavior in our community. We need to employ those same strategies today as we did then.

We must also remember that police officers are human beings as well. We cannot expect them to become emotionless robots and for them to ignore threats, aggressiveness, and criminal behavior. Many of them have families they need to support and goals and dreams that they would like to live long enough to accomplish as well. We cannot burn, loot, and riot, to fight injustice and then expect the powers that be to look at us as innocent victims in the fight for justice. You ultimately will be judged by the content of your character as well.

PASTOR JOSEPH L. GREEN