Lima Senior and Shawnee High School basketball players wore Project Joy t-shirts during warmups to raise disability awareness.
Jessica Orozco | The Lima News
LIMA — Lima Senior High School held the annual DECA Project Joy basketball game to raise disability awareness for the fifth year on Saturday.
The game is part of the project’s community awareness goal. The Lima Senior Spartans played against the Shawnee Indians, with both teams wearing opposite color Project Joy t-shirts during warm ups.
Chrissy Hood, a business and marketing teacher and DECA advisor, said the project encourages the community to accept those with disabilities and celebrate the things they can do, rather than focus on what they cannot.
“This year’s focus is to have awareness and then move further into acceptance,” Hood said.
Hood said Project Joy is a student-planned program that was started to raise awareness of Down Syndrome, as the teacher’s daughter has it. It has since been expanded to include all disabilities.
Hood said the theme for this school year is “Change Lives.” The project hosts multiple events throughout the year, with a silent disco and bingo night coming up in March.
Logan Baker, a senior DECA student and one of three project leads, said the group began planning for the basketball game when school started in the fall.
Hood said the Shawnee-Lima game was selected for Shawnee’s coach’s desire for his team to take part in the project. She said this game is the first time both teams, rather than just the Spartans, wore colored Joy shirts since the project started.
Hood said DECA invited about 50 guests from the Allen County Board of Developmental Disabilities to attend the game.
Baker said on Tuesday, Project Joy will present the Board with a $500 check toward repairs on the All Abilities Playground. He said the group raised the funds through t-shirt sales.
DECA students collaborated with Lima Senior culinary students to bake frosted cookies with Project Joy decorations for the game. Face painting and a photo booth were also available.
Project Joy shirts were available to purchase at the game for $15. DECA holds an online store including the shirt in the fall and offers them at some events.
Project leaders spoke about their goals during the halftime show, and Lima Senior cheerleaders put on a halftime show specific to the project. A DECA student sang the national anthem before the game.
Hood said the project expands every year and she hopes it can clear up commonly held misconceptions about disabled individuals.
“Every day you have an opportunity to include somebody that’s different from you,” Hood said. “Even if it’s not a disability but it’s maybe somebody that has a different lifestyle than you, a different race or religion; coming together and inclusion is really the main theme of what we really want to do through this project.”
