Basketball Jamboree  

The Kiwanis Basketball Jamboree is the longest, continuously held charitable event in Central Iowa. From its inception in 1948 as a football scrimmage between Drake University and Graceland College, the Jamboree has evolved through the years into an annual event that has raised nearly $1.5 million to benefit disadvantaged children and youth programs in the Greater Des Moines area.

With the 1968 Jamboree, the competitive format was changed to basketball, where it remains today. Initially, the Basketball Jamboree was played in Veterans Memorial Auditorium and featured Boys teams from the Central Iowa Metropolitan League. In 1993, Girls teams joined the schedule of the day. Also in 1993, we began collaborating with the Westside and West Des Moines Kiwanis Clubs in presenting the Jamboree. Those new partnerships have expanded our ability to make the Kiwanis Basketball Jamboree a truly outstanding Central Iowa event - one that players, fans, and college recruiters look forward to every year. Most recently, the event has been played at the Knapp Center, the home of the Drake Bulldogs.

The event, sponsored by the Des Moines Register and Central Iowa McDonald's restaurants, benefits Central Iowa organizations such as Ronald McDonald House Charities, YMCA, YWCA, Boys and Girls Clubs, Easter Seals, Amanda the Panda, Children and Families of Iowa, Drake Head Start, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts and more than 20 others.

Ronald McDonald House Charities, the primary benefactor of the Jamboree proceeds, receives matching funds from McDonalds Corporation. In recent years, Ronald McDonald House Charities has used the funds to purchase the “Smiles on Wheels” mobile dental clinic and a bus for transporting residents from a local at risk children's residence, Orchard Place. In 2003, we raised nearly $30,000 for kids in Central Iowa. In 2005, we netted $30,745 - our most successful event ever!

Proceeds from our 2005 Basketball Jamboree benefited the House of Mercy in Des Moines. Double matched by the Ronald McDonald Foundation, our efforts provided the House of Mercy with a new outdoor toddler play area. We plan for our 2006 proceeds, again matched by Ronald McDonald, to benefit Wildwood Hills Ranch.

Our 2007 Jamboree Chairman is Sam Gelb.

This event is so big, we even have a separate web site! Check it out.

For more information on this year's Jamboree, contact: Sharon Ewell Basketball Jamboree Assistant bbjamboree@downtowndesmoineskiwanis.org
	Lots of acation at the 2007 Basketball Jamboree.
	Relive the day from the 2007 Tip-Off Luncheon
	Catch just some of the action from the 2006 Basketball Jamboree
	Pictures from the 2005 Basketball Jamboree
	Take a peek at a few pictures from the 2004 Basketball Jamboree
	Click here to view pictures from the 2004 Tip-Off Luncheon