Code Blue Campaign To Host Hoops 4 Homeless Game Saturday At Wise HS

This Saturday, July 20th, Code Blue; Reviving a Generation Campaign will host a Hoops 4 Homeless Youth Allstar Game at Dr. Henry A. Wise High School in Upper Marlboro, Maryland. Prince George’s County resident and CEO of the Campaign, Jermaine Crawford, best known for his portrayal of Dukie Weems, a homeless teen; on the HBO award winning TV series, “The Wire” recently partnered with the Goodman League, the US Army and Men Aiming Higher. The objective of this collaboration is to host the Hoops 4 Homeless Youth All Star Game.

“Initially when I started on the show The Wire I was about 12-13 years old and of course I played the character – Dukie Weems,” said Jermaine Crawford in a pre-game interview with Pro Player Insiders. “He was a homeless teen in the inner city of Baltimore, Maryland. So, in doing my research for that character — that’s what initially inspired me to start the Code Blue campaign. This campaign and my efforts with homeless youth was definitely triggered by that character. It was definitely a great time for me and a great experience because if that never happened who knows if I would be doing this at all.”

Teenage homelessness is a rising epidemic locally and nationally. It’s estimated that each year 1.8 million teens become homeless in the U.S. To my surprise, in a county I call home, more than 140 youth were identified homeless last year in Prince George’s County alone. That’s ridiculous and Crawford is extending a hand in effort to help reduce the amount of homeless youth.

“I wanted to do an event that was just as exciting as it was helpful to the youth,” he told us. “I wanted to do something that our neighborhood could all join in on. I’ve had my own campaign for homeless youth for about seven years. I noticed a lot of people want to help, but there aren’t really innovative ways for people to get involved. So, we’re asking people to please buy the tickets and the tickets will go towards helping to keep the shelter for homeless youth in Prince Georges County open. So, even if you’re just buying tickets to have a good time, you’re definitely doing a good thing.”

A portion of proceeds from the event will go to Promise Place, a 20-bed emergency teen shelter located in Seat Pleasant, MD; Prince George’s County. Promise Place is the first and only emergency teen shelter in Prince George’s County.

The basketball game lineup is strong and includes two Washington Redskins’ players – Joshua Morgan and Niles Paul. Both players will have an opportunity to showcase their skills on a court, four days before departing for training camp at the team’s new facility in Richmond, VA .

“There’s a lot of people who are simply local community figures that wanted to be involved and we figured out ways to incorporate everyone inside this event,” said Jermaine Crawford. The county of Prince Georges has been so helpful with us — professional boxers who are from the area — Lamont and Anthony Peterson. They were both homeless at one time. So, when the word got out, they actually reached out to us to be a part of it. There has been a lot of people locally who saw what we were trying to do and wanted to get involved. Anyone with the right heart to do it, I definitely want to incorporate them into what I’m doing.”

The game tips-off at 4 pm. If you’re interested in attending and supporting this great cause, you can purchase tickets here.