Alumni Football Game Aug 2011

This summer I had the pleasure of working with a group of amazing people in order to raise money for a great cause. Originally, I saw a few former classmates post on Facebook about an alumni football game that would be played in August against our former high school rival and it would benefit Cystic Fibrosis.

After re-sharing their event details, I asked if there was anything I could do to help. The two guys in charge of the Oregon City High School Alumni team said to join them and I jumped at the chance. I enjoy volunteering, love football, like to organize, and meeting new people is always fun for me. A lot of my passions rolled into one!

We began in June by having practices twice a week. It would be full contact football and some of our guys were coming straight off the couch. 

Sophia talking football with OC players

The original reason for this game was to raise funds for Cystic Fibrosis. One of the original organizers, Ian, has a daughter with this disease. His great friend, business parter, former teammate, and his daughter's godfather, Trent, thought this would be a great way to have fun, create memories, and most importantly, raise money for Cystic Fibrosis.

They hired an outside company (Alumni Athletics http://alumniathleticsusa.com/contact.php) who would provide uniforms, the general event organization, and some people to help run it on game day. I ended up being the team manager for Oregon City High School's team, but also helped with media updates, game promoting, communication between the printers, both teams, the general public, and more. I created a Facebook event and kept it loaded with pictures to entice people to come to the game.

We set up this website Battle for the bridge for people to purchase tickets online.

We had some great media coverage before and after our event oregonlive and
oregonlive2.
Leading up to game day was a fun experience. I met a lot of families, got in touch with old friends I hadn't seen in many years, and met a lot of wonderful people. 

Before game day, we knew we had at least 1,000 people attending, about 150 people playing or organizing, a combined school dance team for half time entertainment, current cheerleaders for both teams, and a lot of excitement in the air!

Our team, Oregon City High School, ended up with the win on game day, but really, we ALL won. Cystic Fibrosis won with our final event tally raising over $18,000 which went directly to the Oregon chapter. Each team won by creating life long memories and being able to share them with families and friends.