Hundreds of students, staff, and parents from the Norwalk High School community gathered Wednesday night for a tradition unlike any other.

Each year, the school hosts a dodgeball tournament to raise money for a different charity.

This year's event raised $10,000 for EJ's H.E.A.R.T. Inc., a nonprofit helping to support youth in the community.

The foundation is named after EJ Gilmore, the late son of Norwalk High School security guard Tremain Gilmore.

"We lost him at 4 years old," Gilmore says. "He used to come to work with me in the morning, and he went to the preschool that used to be housed here."

EJ passed away of viral myocarditis, a rare virus that attacks the heart.

The school community presented a check to the family prior to Wednesday night's event.

“I would just say full of love," Gilmore says. "I went to school here, and to have everybody support us like this, it’s definitely a blessing."