LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. — This year marks a decade since the start of the annual Nicole Conway Volleyball Tournament.
The event at Fairview Park in Columbia is special to people in the Lancaster County community whose lives have been directly impacted by addiction.
"In 2013, the Lancaster County recovery community, unfortunately, lost Nicole Conway to an unintentional overdose," said Christopher Dreisbach, organizer of the annual tournament and CEO of BluePrints for Addiction Recovery. "Instead of just having it be another overdose that occurred in our area, we wanted to take it and make it something positive. Kind of turn tragedy into triumph."
Every year, the event benefits kids like Jayla Diehl, who lost her dad, Jake, five years ago to an unintentional overdose.
"When I first went while my dad was still alive, I thought it was just a fun game to play and everyone was getting along and it was a good event," said Jayla. "After he passed away, it became something to represent him."
Dreisbach said the day is all about helping the kids, like Jayla and Nicole's son Kaayson, as well as celebrating the power of recovery.
"In the 10 years we've been doing this, it has grown so much. We've grown from one kid to seven," Dreisbach said. "We have added just six of the most wonderful kids in the world."
The event continues to get bigger each year.
To kick off this year's festivities on August 26, FOX43's Evan Forrester will lead a motorcycle ride at 9 a.m. from the Willow Street Harley Davidson dealership to Fairview Park. That's where volleyball and a newly added cornhole tournament will get underway.
Then the activities at Fairview Park will take place from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Interested teams of five can sign up here for $50. Donations can also be made at the event, and even if you can't donate, organizers said there are things you can still do.
"Volunteer, hang out, meet people and shake hands," offered Dreisbach. "Just exist and be a support, that's all we really need. Feel free to get on social media and share the event page, anything you want about recovery. Let people know recovery is real, and we're here to support the kids."
