Downtown Rochester Crowd Asks Kid Rock to Help Their Charity

If you believe in Rochester entrepreneur Colin McConnell's cause, he asks only one thing: Share his made-in-downtown-Rochester video with the masses.

McConnell is the organizer of an upcoming charity basketball game that will help support Coalition for Dwarf Advocacy, also known as CoDA. The game will be played April 1 at Oakland University between a team of celebrities and the Statesmen, a team of medal-winning dwarf basketball players.

On Sunday afternoon, McConnell gathered a crowd of about 100 supporters at Main Street Billiards to film a video invitation to Kid Rock to play on the celebrity side of the court.

McConnell said he hopes the video will go viral on YouTube, Facebook and other social media channels and ultimately reach the Detroit rocker.

During the video shoot, supporters had a chance to chat via Skype with McConnell's lifelong friend, Marty Klebba, a star of Pirates of the Caribbean. Klebba, who grew up in Troy, is helping to organize the game.

"In other countries, just because you're born different you're treated horribly," McConnell said. "In other countries if you're born a dwarf, it's even worse.

"My goal is to get kids out of these situations and put into loving homes. I live my life that it doesn't matter the gender, race or size of a child — they need a good home."

To hep share McConnell's video, watch it at www.youtube.com/watch?v=05GHHmFT4pl and click "like" or "share."

Tickets to the 1 p.m. April 1 basketball game are $30 and can be purchased by sending a message to McConnell at Colin@bizmatchconnect.com.