On Sunday, Jan. 19, Pascack Valley High School is hosting benefit basketball games for the Zack Latteri Foundation.
Zack Latteri was a student at PV during the 2014-2015 school year. Diagnosed in the fourth grade, he battled Leukemia and unfortunately passed away during the summer of 2015. In 2018, Latteri’s friends, mother, and classmates started the Zack Latteri Foundation.
The Zack Latteri Benefit Basketball Games began in 2018, and this will be the second year of hosting the games at two different sites. There will be eight games at Pascack Valley High School and four games at Immaculate Heart Academy. Karen Kosch, a former PV history teacher and a board trustee for the Zack Latteri Foundation, talked about the growth of these games.
“The growth of the Benefit Games at PV has been tremendous,” Ms. Kosch said. “We, the foundation, feel tremendous gratitude. [We are] grateful to all those who give their time and donations. All the support helps us to ‘pay it forward’ by giving back to the community and delivering Zack Packs to sick kids in the hospital.”
This year at IHA they will also be supporting The Neil G. Shastri Foundation. The Neil G. Shastri Foundation was established by the family and friends of Neil Shastri, a victim of the 9/11 attacks. He was 25 years old when he died; he went to Midland Park High School.
Coach Jeff Jasper, who is in his 52nd year of coaching girls basketball, has hosted benefit games at PV for a number of years for different causes, including diabetes and autism. In December of 2018, Jasper offered the games for the Zack Latteri Foundation.
This school year also featured the first-ever ZLF football game. The game was on Oct. 18, when Pascack Valley hosted River Dell. Kosch shared how well the game went, for not just Pascack Valley football but also for the Zack Latteri Foundation.
“The football game in October was yet another extension of PV Athletics remembering Zack and donating to the cause,” Kosch said. “As Sharon Latteri (Zack’s mother) said as we sat in the bleachers, the nicest thing was seeing students all dressed in orange, cheering together and then pausing to listen to Zack’s story as it was delivered from the press box.”
“This basketball event, which began with just four teams…now spreads Zack’s message to 24 teams [and] continues to educate and inspire,” Jasper said. “Each year Zack’s message is heard by others who then contribute to Zack’s memory and the work of the Foundation. So, in a special sense, PV is the center of this community, a source to assist in spreading that community service can happen in many ways.”
The impact of the Zack Latteri Benefit Games and the foundation go past PV. These games help give exposure to the foundation in neighboring towns and counties. With schools such as Chatham High School and Morris Hills High School participating in the benefit games this year, the foundation’s impact will be felt in more than just Bergen County.
“Many more people get to know Zack’s story and learn about the Foundation’s motto of ‘paying it forward’,” Kosch said. “So, through basketball we are ‘playing it forward’ to ‘pay it forward.’”
Kosch continued, “The ZLF logo means something special, and when more people see it, they recognize it, and they too can feel empowered to do something in the fight against cancer and in support of those in the struggle.”
