Inaugural Police vs. Fire Charity Flag Football Game a Success
The inaugural Police vs. Fire Charity Flag Football Game benefiting the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (LLS) of Arizona was held on May 19. PLEA Charities and United Phoenix Firefighters Association Charities teamed up to put together this fun football game. The idea to have a charity flag football game came from one of our members who participated in other charity events with Phoenix Fire, such as the Police vs. Fire basketball and soccer games.
In the previous games, Fire was victorious, and the rivalry continued gearing up for Friday night lights. There were approximately 21 players on each team. The teams wore custom T-shirts with the LLS logo on one sleeve and their respective charity on the other; the PD blue shirts had the PLEA Charities logo, and the FD red shirts had the United Phoenix Firefighters Association Charities logo.
North High School (NHS) in downtown Phoenix gladly opened its football field to hold this charity event; the stadium featured large grandstands and an amazing field. NHS was very accommodating and even offered its concession stand for food and drinks for guests. We encouraged guests to wear their teams’ colors of red or blue to show support.
The gates opened at 6 p.m. and kick-off was at 7 p.m. Tickets were sold online at pleacharities.org for a reasonable price of $10 for adults and $5 for children 11 and up.
PLEA Charities was able to collect and raise $2,653.15 in proceeds. That money was then donated to our friends at LLS.
The final score of the game was 41–14, with the PD team taking another loss. (The police team is already talking about a rematch next year.) The game ended with a large group photo of all the players on the 50-yard line. It was great to see the bond that we have with our Fire brothers and sisters.
PLEA Charities is here to support public safety personnel across the state of Arizona. We continue to help other nonprofits and foundations like LLS. If you know of any opportunities that we can contribute to or know someone who is in need, don’t hesitate to reach out to us at charities@pleacharities.org or call the PLEA office.