Fans refer to it as the den, but to senior Dalton Taylor the Oregon-Davis Basketball Gym might as well be known as the local food bank.
"For every point I score this year I am donating a can to the Starke Co. food bank," said Taylor.
He is calling his charity effort "Shooting For a Cause!" and when he brought the idea home to his parents Anthony and Tara they were more than willing to help out their son.
"For an 18-year-old to come and want to do this for his community and help the people out in the community; I was pretty proud of him to even want to do it," said Dalton's father Anthony.
His mother said Dalton's decision to help his community came at no surprise.
"He has always wanted to help others," said Tara Taylor. "He's always talked about being a cop or going into the service so know that he's doing this just adds to it."
Taylor says he got the idea from a high school kicker in Illinois who donated cans of food for every field goal he hit this past season. Taylor talked with one of his coaches about the idea and they both agreed it would be a great effort.
"I think it means a lot to [Starke Co. Food Bank]," said John Kratzchman, Oregon-Davis Asst. Coach. "Maybe it will get other kids involved with helping the food bank."
Taylor's family has also reached out to their community to help with shooting for a cause.
"[Our family] was talking about it and I said 'Well lets make it bigger. Let's see if anyone will donate and match us?' and so far it's been pretty good," said Anthony Taylor.
Pretty good might be an understatement. Even after Dalton scored just six points in his first game this season, the Taylor's collected nearly 100 cans from the Hamlet community.
"You know it's a great thing to help people," said Taylor. "With the holidays coming around everybody could use a little food."
Anyone interested in helping out the Taylor family with "Shooting For a Cause!" can call (574) 867-5881 or e-mail either d_taylor_2@yahoo.com or taylortony.1990@yahoo.com for more information.
According to the family, people interested can match donations on an individual game basis or sign up to help for the entire season. Dalton's father said his son averages between six to seven points per game and his career high was 22 points.
