The Valparaiso men’s basketball team took a break from summer workouts on Monday to give back to the community of sophomore Alec Peters, whose hometown of Washington, Ill. was devastated by a massive tornado last November.

The Crusaders loaded up a bus and headed to Washington on Monday to participate in the Hope Swings initiative, a cooperative mission project between three local churches whose mission is to build and deliver 100 swing sets this summer for families with children in Washington. 

The players and coaches split up into three teams to build on Monday, and at the end of the day, delivered a completed swing set to a Washington family.  They also heard from Doug Damery, a member of the Washington community whose house was destroyed by the storm and whose family lived with the Peters’ family for a few weeks afterwards, and visited one of the subdivisions which was hit by the tornado.

Peters returned home the day after the tornado to help with recovery efforts, and two days later, posted a season-high 30-point effort at Evansville.  Be on the lookout in the near future for an in-depth video feature and story on Peters and Washington, here at ValpoAthletics.com.