Help Darek Achieve His Basketball Dreams

Darek, a sixteen-year-old kid from Lawrence, Massachusetts, wakes up every morning with one goal: make it to the league and retire his parents. Growing up in a small apartment where the heat cuts off in the winter and bills pile up like snow outside, Darek knows struggle better than most. His mom works two jobs, and his dad’s hands are calloused from years in a factory—Darek sees their pain, and it fuels his grind. With a beat-up ball and dreams bigger than his neighborhood, he spends hours at the local court, rain or shine, turning pain into passion. To him, basketball isn’t just a game—it’s the ticket out, the hope that one day he’ll be the reason his parents can finally rest.