Imagine growing up with a love for basketball.
NBA and WNBA posters, photos, and memorabilia decorate your walls. Basketball jerseys areyour outfit of choice, and you wear your team colors proudly. You closely follow your favorite players and share in their joy after a huge win.
You play basketball in school and love meeting up with friends to practice. During your games, the crowd screams, the referee’s whistle blows, and your coach shouts words of encouragement, but you can’t hear any of it.
You are deaf.
While your school allows you to play basketball, there are many challenges you face as a deaf athlete. Where hand signals and flags could be used to communicate, there are only whistles and buzzers. Your school’s basketball program doesn’t meet your unique needs, and you wish there were more resources available to you.
The Mike Glenn Foundation makes these much-needed resources a reality for children within the Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities. The Mike Glenn Basketball Camp for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing connects with coaches from schools for the Deaf to volunteer their expertise to benefit the children who enroll in the camp. Young athletes from across the country gather to share their passion for basketball, meet new friends, and learn new skills.
Founder Mike “Stinger” Glenn understands the struggle that deaf athletes face. The sports broadcaster and former NBA player first encountered American Sign Language through his father, a teacher and basketball coach at Georgia School for the Deaf. Glenn learned to play basketball from the students on his father’s team. After learning that many of his deaf friends were unable to attend basketball camp, Glenn was determined to develop his own program.
On July 7, 1980, Glenn created the nation’s first basketball camp for deaf athletes. Since then, the camp has provided its services to hundreds of children. Now in its 38th year, the camp is poised to welcome even more athletes to its annual celebration in Decatur, Georgia.
Our Be The Change Foundation is honored to 
support the Mike Glenn Foundation. Every purchase of Javalution coffee benefits the Be The Change Foundation. Funds are then distributed to our family of foundations, including the Mike Glenn Foundation, the Make-A-Wish® Foundation, and the Gary Sinise Foundation, among others.
Thank you for your support!