When Via of the Lehigh Valley, a nonprofit agency that provides services for children and adults with disabilities, decided to step away from running the Via All-Star Basketball Classic, the all-star basketball committee stepped up to keep the games alive.

Entering its 47th year, it will now be called the Lehigh Valley Senior All-Star Classic, presented by St. Luke’s University Health Network, and all proceeds from this event will benefit Via of the Lehigh Valley.

“I’m thrilled,” said Lisa Walkiewicz, president and CEO of Via of the Lehigh Valley. “There’s nobody better than the group of people that are involved, and they’ve been involved for many years and will continue to make sure it’s successful.”

At a press conference on Dec. 1 at Northampton Community College, committee members Traci Cyr and Doug Snyder explained how the event would continue under its new name.

“We didn’t want to see it go by the wayside, so we decided to step up as people who’ve played in the game, coached in the game, been on the committee for many years supporting the event,” Cyr said. “We felt eliminating the banquet and having everything in one event was the best way to move forward with this process.”

Scheduled for March 27, 2022, at Northampton Community College’s Spartan Center Gymnasium, two games will be played in the morning, followed by the Lehigh Valley Basketball Hall of Fame inductions, and two games will be played in the afternoon.

Snyder added, “We’re going to reach out, for the first time, pretty strenuously to get current Hall of Fame members to participate in this event.”

Two scholar athlete awards will be presented at the event as well.

In addition to Cyr and Snyder, committee members are Pat Boyle, Mary Lisicky, Troy Tucker, Bob Huffstutler, Glenn Noack, Jose Medina, Donna Kennedy, and Henry Mora.

“I knew [Traci] was going to do some leg work and figure out how to keep it going,” Walkiewicz said. “The pandemic did a lot of things and for us as a nonprofit, it really made us look at the services we provide and the other fundraising activities we participate in. At the beginning of the pandemic, we were making sure that people had food and the care that they needed. So when we looked at the basketball event and the marathon event we host, as well as our thrift stores, those were things that seemed to distract from our core services.”

Businesses and community members that would like to contribute to this event can email the committee at LVSallstarclassic@gmail.com or go to www.LVSallstarclassic.org.