Hard Knox members receive a helping hand

Ahmad Shamseldin and Tysean Parker, two members of Hard Knox, a youth oriented organization that seeks to teach life lessons through basketball while emphasizing academic success, were feted at a fundraising gala at the VFW hall in Alberston on Aug. 4.

What was a surprise party for the young men raised $1,300 to help them as they head off to college. Several local businesses donated items including suits from Vista Paolo in Lawrence.

Shamseldin, an all Nassau County basketball player, who was on the Lawrence squad that was a county finalist in 2011, is headed to Lewis and Clarke Community College in Godfrey, Ill., to play hoops and study athletic training.

He spent last school year improving his grades and playing basketball at the Christian Life Center preparatory school in Houston, Texas, where Shamseldin averaged 14 points and 5 assists per game for the Cougars.

The first of 11 brothers and sisters to attend college, Parker will be upstate in Dryden at Tomkins Cortland Community College. He will major in criminal justice and minor in early childhood education.