Charm City Roller Girls raise thousands for hate crime victim
How about some good news?
The Charm City Roller Girls raised more than $2,000 at their bout this past Saturday, through beer sales and private donations. The money will go to James Privott, a 76-year-old victim of a hate crime.
The Roller Girls will also give Privott a $100 gift card to Rusty Scupper and a $250 gift certificate to Dick's Sporting Goods, which he can use to buy more fishing equipment (Privott had just finished fishing when he was attacked by a group of white men).
If you missed the bout but still want to make a contribution, the Roller Girls have set up a PayPal button on their Web site, which goes directly to the Privott donation fund.
They're going to keep the button up on their site until Friday, according to league member Tara Gebhardt. They hope to hit $3,000 by the end of the week ...
"What if I was packing my skating gear and somebody came up and attacked me?," she said. "This is supposed to be your outlet -- your fun thing in life. We really want to be able to show him our support so he can hopefully get the association of this horrible thing away from fishing as soon as possible."
The Roller Girls felt even worse about the crime when they realized Privott's attackers were young people -- about the same age as many of the Roller Girls.
"We wanted to show him he does have the support of the young people in the community," Gebhardt said.
(Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor)
Erik Maza is a features reporter at the Baltimore Sun. He writes for several sections of the Sun paper and contributes weekly columns on music and nightlife. He also writes and edits the Midnight Sun blog. He often covers entertainment, business, and the business of entertainment. Occasionally, he writes about Four Loko, The Block, the liquor board, and those who practice "
Comments
This is so nice to see. The Roller Girls should be commended for stepping up and helping Mr. Privott. Sam, is the SUN doing an article on this or did I miss it?
Posted by: Level Headed | August 25, 2009 2:26 PM
The women involved with CCRG are nothing short of spectacular.
There is finally a group of independant women that can be looked up to by our daughters.
Posted by: Quite Impressed | August 25, 2009 3:56 PM
agreed, i'd love to see some front page time for this story. or at least a blurb somewhere.
Posted by: Allan | August 25, 2009 4:52 PM
An article in the what? The ... paper? What's that? I'm sorry, I think you have a wrong number.
Posted by: Sam Sessa | August 25, 2009 4:55 PM
I am so gratful to see there are people in this world still that care about other people. Iam the wife of Mr J. Privott and I want to thank all that is helping us with donation and prayer. I mostly want to thank this team for starting it all. Thanks and may God Bless you.
Posted by: Ethel Privott | August 27, 2009 5:24 PM
I am Da'Rrell Privott the Son of Mr. James Privott. I would like to personally thank The Roller Girls for their out right concern & tremendous support. They are a God sent, as well as all of those many people who have given donations in support of my Dad, who is a good man. He was just trying to fish and enjoy his golden years. I feel that any form of hate crime in our community is both horrible & unacceptable and it does my heart well to know their are many good people who are willing to show their support and feel the same way.
Posted by: daRrell Privott | September 7, 2009 11:41 AM