Basketball tourney to benefit cleft palate foundation

City Supervisor Molly Walt is helping organize a three-on-three basketball tournament on the Fourth of July to benefit local children born with cleft lips and palates.

Money raised will go to Smiles for Miles, a nonprofit organization founded a year ago by Walt and her husband, Kyle, whose three of four children were born with cleft palates.

"Our goal is that we will help fund individuals in the area to get orthodontics," she said. "It's not covered through Medicaid or Medicare."

Walt said she came up with the idea for the tournament based on a similar program in Spokane, Wash., that she and her husband competed in while living in Montana.

She said that tournament began 18 years ago with 400 teams and has since grown to 6,000 entrants.

"It could be a huge economic impact to Carson City," she said. "It'll bring people to this area."

The tournament will be on the Fourth of July with adults playing in the parking lot of the Carson Mall. Youth will compete in the parking lot behind the Plaza Hotel.

Portions of Ninth and Fall streets will be closed for the games.

The Parks and Recreation Department is organizing the tournament, and the registration deadline has been extended until Monday.

Walt said she hopes it will become an annual event, drawing participants from surrounding areas, even other states.

"It takes a lot of work to engineer," she said. "We've really worked out the kinks."

For more information or to sign up, contact Jeremiah Teeter at jteeter@ci.carson-

city.nv.us.