KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Kansas Jayhawks men’s basketball coach Bill Self is teaming up with the ShareWaves Foundation for a charity event Thursday.
The Blasters: Battle of the Bays golf event at Top Golf in Overland Park is set to raise funds for “Power of Sports Game-Changing Grants," which are designed to deliver high-quality sports experiences to children.
Such funding helps provide experiences like the Temple Made Fitness’ Animal Movements program, which Ervin Elementary School fifth graders took part in earlier this week.
Rockhurst High School graduate Tony Temple read to students while they mimicked different animals in an effort to get them moving.
“What's proven in science is physical activity helps the brain, so we're funding physical activity as a way to help mental health because we believe that movement is the medicine,” said Bill Brandmeyer, founding executive director of ShareWaves.
Students tell KSHB 41 News the ripple effects of COVID-19 continue to wear on them. Even though they’re back in the classroom, students continue to experience stress as they learn to cope with loss.
“Because COVID, people’s teachers might have passed away and are sort of just not as good as they used to be, like they're not feeling as good,” said Angelo Spearman Smith, student at Ervin Elementary.
Recent data from the Annie E. Casey Foundation reports 7.3 million children were battling mental health in 2020, a 26% increase from 2016 when 5.8 million were found to be dealing with similar concerns.
Faculty at Ervin Elementary say their students aren’t immune, with many of them battling several hardships.
“We have a lot of kids that are struggling with homelessness, a lot of mental health issues after recovering from COVID,” said school case worker Raechel Lovingood.
Tickets are still available for Thursday's event and can be found here.
