It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…
2020 has been a crazy year. There’s just no other way to say it. On the field I think it’s safe to say that STLFC had their very best ever season. We qualified for the playoffs from an incredibly difficult group and we won our first playoff game ever. Our Charity Du Jour efforts were, once again, record breaking. But this is also the year that was cut in half due to a Global Pandemic run amok in our country. And to make matters worse we couldn’t attend most of the home games we had due to county rules prohibiting large gatherings. And if that wasn’t enough- the pandemic (and the encroaching STL CITY SC team) conspired to effectively put our beloved Saint Louis FC out of business. So with all of these roadblocks, most of us expected an uphill battle for charity fundraising. But that’s not how Louligans roll. We tweaked a few things. For the first time ever we opened Charity Du Jour to online contributions out of necessity. We got bigger and better Schlaffles going. We had people getting inventive with betting on the team for charity. And, in general- you all just kicked ass and were more generous than could have reasonably been expected from people battling their own emotional and financial hardships. Every season I am amazed, but this season- there are no words to express my feelings about everyone that contributed to our biggest charity season ever.
I know, I know. You just want to see the big number. BUT we must thank some very important people that made it all possible. From our side of things this season we need to thank Mitch Morice for doing all the button pressing to make the website the focus of the money collection. He made the donation pages each week that made it easy for you all to donate. We need to thank the entire Carver family for keeping all the Schlaffle prizes and winners sorted. We need to thank Sarah Robertson for all the little things she did that no one notices. And we want to thank the This is SiLLy! Podcast for doing live broadcasts from the games that fans weren’t allowed to go to and doing all the silly things people requested to get bigger donations.
There are also people outside the group that we need to thank, but I think we can all agree that by their actions over the last 6 seasons, they really are #OneOfUs. Of course we start with Jim Kavanaugh and Tom Strunk. Their leadership with STLFC and WWT has always been inspiring but they always lead by example and that means contributing to our efforts financially. This year (even with businesses that were facing new and unprecedented challenges) they pledged to donate $25,000 to be split evenly to all our CDJ recipients. This season West Community Credit Union joined in the fun by donating $100/goal which added up to $2400 and we in turn donated it back to a charity they support called HEROES Care. Schlafly Brewing was generous as always in donating items for us to give away in our Schlaffles. And finally the players and staff of STLFC for donating merch and player autographed items which helped boost our totals.
And last but not least, thank you to EVERYONE that made a donation in 2020. We know it wasn’t easy. Every single dollar makes a huge difference to the organizations we support and the people that they serve. You are the absolute heroes of the CDJ story and we’ll never be able to thank you enough.
After all was said and done, our 2020 Season Charity Du Jour total hit the staggering total of:
$66,003
That bests our previous single-season record by over $20k. That is AMAZING! In this most painful of years for charities we shattered our record and did an amazing amount of good in our community. I can’t even say anything but Thank You.
Here are the charities we supported this year. They deserve your support whenever you can spare a few dollars. They all do amazing things for our community.
Autism Speaks
S.P.E.N.S.A.
Colon Cancer Alliance
St. Louis Area Foodbank
Gateway Resilience Fund
UMSL Succeed
Paint The Town Gold
St. Louis Crisis Nursery
STL Pride
St. Patrick Center
3 Little Birds For Life
HEROES Care
But… WE’RE NOT DONE YET!
We’re going to add a few more things before we total up our STLFC-era. We’ve got a special donation from the Lou City Ladies, The Louligan Ladies Holiday Party and The Louligan/AO Holiday Party-Holiday Game totals to add still to come. We’re chasing a big number and with your help, we’ll get there.
Thanks again- you guys are the best.
