LAPEL, Ind. — A central Indiana basketball player is giving new meaning to the term "charity stripe."
Lapel High School senior guard Griffin Craig is an honor student with a 4.1 grade point average.
"I want to excel in the classroom and on the court. It's more of a challenge than the normal person. I have to do extra things to get ready to play at a high level or perform well on a test. It takes more time," he said.
That challenge is a big one. Craig was diagnosed with diabetes in the eighth grade. His dad said they've learned to live with the big challenge.
"My wife has done a fantastic job of helping him manage it. Most people have a junk drawer in their kitchen, we have a drawer of diabetic supplies and drugs he needs for the day, but it becomes a part of your daily life and he just hasn't let it slow him down at all," Brandon Craig said.
The treatments can cost over $1,000 a month. Griffin decided to raise awareness one shot at a time.
He set out to shoot 1,000 free throws to raise $1,000. All of the money he's raising goes to the JDRF for research.
"I am a senior and it's the awareness month. I was sitting there and wanted to do something to bring awareness to it and help it," Griffin said. "I sat down with my dad and talked about it and how we could incorporate basketball and this is what we came up with."
So each day in November, you'll find Griffin shooting free throws. He said out of 1,000, he usually makes more than 900.
His coach, Tod Windlan, noticed early that Griffin is a talented player with an even bigger heart.
"It's pretty special for a kid of that age to want to do that for diabetes and what he encountered in eighth grade when he was diagnosed with it," Windlan said. "I donated right away on Facebook and started looking. I was, like, 'Man, he's getting a lot of people,' so it hit home with a lot, obviously."
In fact, he raised $2,300 in just a few days, so Griffin wants to keep shooting and raising more money.
"You should donate because it's a good cause and some people don't have the money to get medicine all the time," Griffin said. "It's $1,000 a month, minimum. It's hard and it would be nice to have a cure for it and help a lot of people out, not just me."
Click here to learn more about Griffin's fundraising efforts and to donate.