On Saturday, Feb. 21, 2015, Barry University helped grant the wish of a Miami-area teen in a special Make-A-Wish® reveal during its homecoming basketball games. Barry’s efforts to raise funds will send Nathan, a local wish kid, and his family on a vacation to Paradise Island Resort in Nassau, The Bahamas.
The big announcement took place in the Health & Sports Center in front of a packed house prior to the Buccaneer men’s basketball game.
Nathan and family spent the afternoon on campus as a special guest attending Barry’s Homecoming festivities. Joined by his older brother and father, Nathan was the Buccaneers’ 6th man and sat in the locker room with the men’s basketball team during in its pre-game scouting report before they took the floor. During the wish reveal, Bucs head coach Butch Estes presented Gustavo with a Barry jersey, complete with his last name.
This is the second year in a row that Barry has hosted a Make-A-Wish® reveal during Homecoming. Last year, The NCAA selected Barry as one of five schools across the country to hold the reveal on site. Barry received an award as one of the top three NCAA Division II schools in the nation for its fundraising efforts to support Make-A-Wish.
Since 2003, NCAA Division II schools have allied with Make-A-Wish® to connect student athletes directly to a charitable cause. Since 2009, Barry University has been one of the number one wish granters among NCAA schools and in South Florida.Barry Athletics and SES Department have raised more than $65,000 for the foundation in the past six years, granting the wishes of two children a year since 2011 and three children in 2014.
For more information about how you can support Barry University’s Make-A-Wish® fundraising efforts, email jcarrig@barry.edu.