April 18, 2013 by Charlie Eisenhood in News with 0 comments
Tournament organizers in Lowell, Massachusetts, are setting up a hat tournament to raise funds for a local family that was devastated by the recent Boston bombings.
Sydney Corcoran and her mother Celeste were at the Boston Marathon to watch Sydney’s aunt finish the race when one of the bombs exploded. Sydney’s legs were “shredded” by the shrapnel and her mother had both of her legs amputated below the knee.
Scott Walfield wanted to find a way to help the family and thought reaching out to the ultimate community would be a good way to do so. He set up the hat tournament, dubbed “Seven on the Greenline,” (a reference to Boston’s famous T subway system) to raise what he hopes to be at least $10,000 to help the family with their medical bills.
“The Ultimate community is great about gathering together after these kinds of events and I wanted to put this together,” he said.
Walfield, an alum of the University of Massachusetts-Lowell, will be working with the Lowell Ultimate team to put on the event, from which 100% of proceeds will go to the Corcorans.
“Our first priority is to raise money for this family,” he said. “Our second priority is to make sure everybody gets to play a lot of ultimate.”
The tournament fee — $26 — includes a jersey, a full day of ultimate, and a raffle ticket to win prizes being donated by organizations including Spikeball, Ulticards, the Ultimate Disc Store, NexGen, Ultiworld, the AUDL, and Boston’s club team Ironside. Walfield expects many more companies to donate gear.
Players for Major League Ultimate’s Boston franchise, the Whitecaps, will also be donating a percentage of their gate towards the victims of the Boston tragedy. For every spectator at the game, the players will donate $1 to One Fund Boston.
The tournament will take place on Saturday, May 11, at the Tyngsboro Sports Center, which is donating the field space and staff for the cause.
If you would like to be involved, check out the tournament’s Facebook page. You can also donate money directly without playing at the tournament on Walfield’s GoFundMe page.
If you are an organization looking to donate gear or money, you can contact Walfield directly.
