St. Sebastian’s parish, Woodside, recently hosted the 11th annual Tommy Ashton 3-on-3 basketball tournament.
The tournament was started in 2003 and honors the memory of Tommy Ashton, a Woodside native who lost his life in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 on the World Trade Center. All proceeds benefit the Tommy Ashton Foundation, a non-profit started by Tommy’s family in 2005.
Past tournaments have raised over $230,000 that has in turn been donated to various charitable organizations and to the refurbishing of the facilities at St. Sebastian, Tommy’s school growing up. This year, the foundation will make a donation to the St. Sebastian Parish Center for the purchase of a new sound system and new security fencing.
Other beneficiaries of the proceeds include: the Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, the Scott Catania Memorial Scholarship Fund at St. Dominic’s H.S., Oyster Bay, the Center for Hope at Schneider Children’s Hospital, the American Cancer Society, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and No Greater Sacrifice.
The basketball tournament was once again a great success, and below are photos of some of the teams and volunteers that participated: