LI Boy, 13, Raises $8K For Suicide Prevention: 'It’s A Big Problem'

COMMACK, NY — A Commack boy raised roughly $8,000 for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention by organizing Hoops for Hope, a charity basketball tournament.

Harold Teller, 13, organized the tournament at Rossetti Basketball on March 12.

People can donate to Teller's cause here if they would like.

Suicide, Teller said, is a big problem in the United States.

"There has even been a couple of deaths on Long Island, so I just wanted it to stop," he told Patch.

More than 100 kids participated in the event across several hours. Teller thought of the idea in August when he wrote an essay for the Honor Society about what he could do in the community. He asked Michael Rossetti, owner of the basketball clinic, if he could help organize the tournament.

Teller, who loves to play basketball in tournaments and travel leagues, said he thought a tournament was a great way to bring people together.

Teller said bullying is the biggest cause of depression, especially among young people.

"I feel you can prevent it by having a good friend group around you and good family members. Just have good times with them."

Teller said he wants everyone to be happy and feel like they are not alone.

"When you’re sad, there are tons of people who will speak to you and make you feel better about yourself," said.

Teller is one of those people, said his mom, Daria Teller.

"A lot of kids call Harold," she said. "He gets phone calls from kids who are sad or need help with homework and they’re stressed out. He’s just that kid. He has that personality ... My husband [Rocky] and I can cry every time we think of just what he did."

The tournament was not Harold's first large-scale effort to give back. When the coronavirus pandemic hit, he asked his classmates for the names and addresses of their relatives who were nurses or doctors working long shifts. He baked cupcakes and other desserts for them and went door-to-door with his mother.

"His friends would say, ‘My aunt Suzie is a nurse!’ And he wouldn’t know the aunt, he would go to the door and say, ‘this is something to thank you for everything you’re doing during COVID,’" Daria said. "This isn’t really his first time trying to help people, and I’m sure it won’t be his last. I could talk about him for 12 years. My husband and I couldn’t be any more proud. And it’s not the end for him."

Harold's next plan is to help his good friend Michael, whose dad is in urgent need of a kidney donor. He plans to attend a program at Huntington Town Hall on April 19 to spread awareness of his friend's father's plight.