Sports have often been used as a vehicle to support worthy causes and charities. Locally, this will be the case again when a charity softball tournament will be held on Saturday, June 26, at Elm Park in Williamsport.

The worthy cause in this cause is raising funds to defray the medical expenses of Corey Schilling, who has stage 4 colon cancer.

The sparkplug for this fundraiser is Melissa Metzger, office manager of Lycoming Heating, Frederick Avenue in Old Lycoming Township. Melissa is a friend of Corey’s mother. Melissa has the enthusiastic cooperation and support of her bosses at Lycoming Heating, who are generously offering as raffle prizes: heating or cooling system (completely installed), whole house air purifier (completely installed) or water heater (completely installed).

“When Deb (Corey’s Mother) called and told me about the diagnosis of her son, my heart was touched, and I wondered what I could do as an individual to help or support this family,” Metzger told Webb Weekly. “The company I work for (Lycoming Heating) has very generous, big-hearted owners, so I asked them if they would let us do a fundraiser for Corey and his family. There was no hesitation when they said ‘Yes,’ but we need to make sure 100 percent of the proceeds went to Corey. Well, that was not hard to do, so then I started. One of the other managers suggested a softball tournament; this seemed to do well when his father was dealing with liver failure (I am glad to say he is seven years living and doing well).”

She continued, “We chose a date, Saturday, June 26, so then we needed to find several fields to play in. I was able to speak with the owner of Elm Park in Williamsport (they have three fields), I believe in the miraculous, and you might too, after hearing this. When I mentioned the date to him, he said, “I want you to know that every date from March to the end of September is booked, except for June 26. So, we got the fields, and now the planning started. We decided to do basket raffles, so we went from business to business, from Muncy to Lock Haven and all the surrounding areas and let them know what we are looking to do and how they could help with donations such as: gift cards, monetary gifts, create a gift basket or add to a gift basket. I must say the community generosity has been, without a doubt, INCREDIBLE.”

She said they are still looking for softball teams to participate in the tournament at an entry fee of $175 per team, which is used as part of the proceeds for the fundraiser.

Metzger said Corey is 30 years old, is married, and has two young boys. One of Corey’s greatest passions is music; he enjoys bluegrass and country music and loves to get with his buddies and jam. Corey plays the guitar. But more than that, according to her, Corey loves spending time with his wife, children, and family, who surround him with loving support through every struggle. Corey is known for his great sense of humor; people love to be around him because of his kindness.

He has had one course of chemotherapy but will need further chemo and radiation before they can do any kind of operation.

On the day of the tournament/fundraiser, there will be lots of great food, music, fun, and giveaways, as special appearances throughout the day.

For further information about this event, contact Melissa Metzger at Lycoming Heating at (570) 326-4450.