SPECIAL | HPE
How mugging victim Connor McLean looked after surgery.
“We all know about what happened to him, and we wanted to help him out with his medical bills,” says Amber Del Sarto, who works with McLean at the Mellow Mushroom restaurant in Greensboro.
The kickball tournament, which will be held Saturday and Sunday at Pomona Athletic Field, is being organized by Del Sarto and a group of friends who last year began playing kickball together just for fun. The games grew into a once-a-week potluck dinner, followed by kickball, and the crowd grew to as many as 40 people.
“We started talking about doing a charity game for Haiti after the earthquake there,” Del Sarto says, “but when this happened to Connor, we wanted to keep it more local. This was something that happened here in Greensboro, so we changed our minds and decided to do the fundraiser for him instead.”
The 26-year-old McLean, a 2002 graduate of T. Wingate Andrews High School who now lives in Greensboro, was assaulted one night in late January after returning home from a date. According to McLean, a male approached him and demanded his keys and cell phone. When McLean refused, the assailant – who appeared to have a gun in his jacket pocket and threatened to shoot McLean – sucker-punched him from behind, possibly with the gun or a rock, and he handed over his keys.
McLean, who had no medical insurance at the time, suffered a blowout fracture – “I had three different breaks in my face,” he says – which required him to undergo reconstructive surgery two days after the incident. He’s pursuing a second surgery – a cheek implant “that would put some normalcy back in my face,” McLean says – and has undergone therapy to deal with the emotional trauma of being assaulted.
McLean’s medical bills have already topped $26,000, he says, so money raised through the kickball tournament will be a blessing.
“This is quite simply one of the most incredible things people can do at a time like this,” McLean says. “Any time a community of people can rally around somebody and support somebody, it automatically instills hope. So many people have been willing to do something to help – it’s been amazing.”
Organizers of the kickball tournament need a total of four 15-member teams for the tournament, and teams will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. Individuals can also sign up to play on a registered team – at the same cost of $15 per person – but full teams are preferred.
On Sunday night, a post-tournament party will be held at the Westerwood Tavern, with proceeds from that event also going toward McLean’s medical bills.
“I’m so thankful,” McLean says. “This has been a pretty incredible community response to what happened.”
jtomlin@hpe.com | 888-3579
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