2019 Charity Du Jour Wrap Up

On the field it all fell apart at the end of the season for Saint Louis FC. We couldn’t buy a win in our last 6 games and missed the playoffs by a point. But before we write 2019 off as a failure of a season, we need to take a look at one area where we finished strong. Charity collections. The Louligans never quit and you guys kept showing up to Soccer Park to show your support for the team and to contribute to our Charity Du Jour. And you guys KILLED it!

In 2019 we set a new record for donations. At the end of the season we ended up at $41,142. And during this run we crossed the $100,000 mark for the first 5 years of Saint Louis FC’s existence. We cannot begin to express our gratitude for every one of you that donated money, time, effort or goods to make this happen. In addition to people donating cash at our tailgate parties this year we need to mention a few special groups that really made this possible. First and foremost World Wide Technology & Saint Louis FC. Because Jim Kavanaugh & Tom Strunk understand how valuable it is to give back to your community, they pledged to match our donations up to $20,000. THAT’S AMAZING. We are so lucky to have those guys who support us, not just financially but by their example of what you can do when you foster a spirit of giving back. In addition to WWT & STLFC we have to give a huge thanks to Schlafly Brewing. They started working with us last season and really took it up a notch this year. They embraced the #OneOfUs motto. They donated tons of gear for us to raffle (#Schlaffle) at our tailgate parties this year. And they also made some liquid donations that helped raise money too. SugarFire 44 did a Dine to Donate night for us. Llywellyn’s hosted all of our watch parties. Wild Sun Brewing added a few barrels of encouragement. Add to these great corporate sponsors so many great people that helped. The players and staff of STLFC that provided autographed gear for us to raffle and made cash donations of their own. The Carver family for taking charge and organizing all the Schlaffles. The Tailgate Posse for giving any proceeds after tailgate food sales back to the cause. Everyone that worked at the merch table begging for donations. Claude for organizing the 1st Annual Louligan Yard Sale. To everyone that donated or helped- THANK YOU.

To see how far we’ve come in a few years is truly amazing. Essentially it all started with putting a bucket out at the tailgate parties and asking for a few bucks to donate to a few local charities. A couple hundred bucks led to a couple thousand led to tens of thousands and now over $100 grand. This is SiLLy! in the best possible way. So many people have benefitted from your generosity. Every thank you note we receive from a charity inspires us to do more. It keeps getting bigger. Who knows how far it will go in the next several years, but a friend of ours likes to say we’re gonna do #BigThings.

We’ll be back next year to raise even more money and our members will think of new and fun ways to take it up a notch- they always do. We hope you join us.

This year’s charities we helped include:

SPENSA
DASA
Autism Speaks
Colon Cancer Alliance
Leukemia/Lymphoma Society
STL Crisis Nursery
Donate Life America
Open Cup Website
Playing For Pride
The Trevor Project
Prideraiser/Pride STL
Hope For Young Adults With Cancer
Kidney Foundation
El Paso shooting victims
St. Patrick’s Center
UMSL SUCCEED
SLYSA
Painting The Town Gold
Almost Home
3Little Birds 4 Life
St. Louis Area Foodbank
Unsung Heroes/Backstoppers

Previous totals raised by season (Starting in 2015 when we kept track.)

2015: $13,310
2016: $10,271
2017: $21,044
2018: $30,000
2019: $41,142

5 year total:         $115,767