The Fitch’s Corner Horse Trials in Millbrook, N.Y.; Camp Eisner’s 50th birthday Shabbat in Great Barrington, Mass.; the New York Yacht Club’s races in Newport, R.I., and the Watermill Center benefit in Watermill, N.Y.: all these events over the weekend (to name but a few) demonstrated in splendid fashion how much summer is meant to be spent in the great outdoors.

But indoors can be fun, too, especially when its the center court at Madison Square Garden.

That’s where a few dozen children recently gathered to play basketball with retired NBA players.

“It’s a dream of every kid to play on the garden floor,” the chief executive of iStar Financial and planner of the event, Jay Sugarman, said.

Mr. Sugarman has a dream of his own: to organize one annual event that raises money for several charities at once.

“We like to do it all at once,” Mr. Sugarman said.

This year’s iStar Financial Foundation Charity Shootout, the sixth annual installment, raised $545,211 for Baby Buggy, Garden of Dreams Foundation, Human Rights First, Robin Hood Foundation, and Teach for America. The organizations are selected annually to reflect the interests of the Sugarmans and the employees of iStar Financial.

The games paired children with professionals and adults with professionals. Anyone could take a shot during the crowd shoot-out, and for each basket made, Mr. Sugarman’s family foundation, the Jay and Kelly Sugarman Foundation, donated $1,000.

The Sugarmans’ son Miles needed a little bit of help with his basket, so his father made one with his own arms that was low to the ground and closer to the shooter.

The Sugarmans are an easygoing and warm couple who are notable for involving their children, Arno and Miles, in their charity work in a way that makes it clear they are a close-knit family committed to teaching the value of giving back.

The iStar Financial Foundation Charity Shootout is a wonderful expression of their values: It’s about having a good time; it’s about sports, and it’s about being under the lights at the garden, just like on television, without quite as many fans in the stands.

Tiyquon Hodges, 13, of Queens, played a team with the retired Knicks guard John Starks.

“It was fun. I was nervous, but I did all right,” Tiyquon, a point guard going into the ninth grade, said. “I just like playing.”

A retired Knicks forward, Kenny “Sky” Walker, said he was glad to back at the Garden. “It’s the world’s most famous arena,” he said. “There’s so much history here, it’s like a history lesson for the kids.”

Mr. Walker called the event his “15 minutes more of fame,” but for those nonprofessional athletes dancing on the court, it was more like their “first 15 minutes” of fame, complete with free and unlimited hot dogs.

With their indoor fund-raising event behind them, the Sugarmans are shifting their focus to the outdoors, in particular to surfing and other beach sports. Additionally, there are, parties planned for their house in the Hamptons, including a gathering of friends this coming weekend, and another on August 16 for donors to the Parrish Art Museum.

agordon@nysun.com