Help the Denver Outlaws Help Kids

Late last year, I worked with the Colorado Mammoth to do a ticket matching with fans to send children from Mount Saint Vincent’s Children’s Home (MSVCH) to experience a Mammoth game. It was a success and through Twitter caught Denver Outlaws‘ General Manager, Brian Reese’s eye. He said they would love to do something similar for Outlaw’s games. Something I was quite excited about to say the least. I’ve been working with them for the past few months to put something together to give the kids a unique experience. I’m very excited to say we’re now ready to move forward.

The big point, and where you come in, is the Outlaws have agreed to offer up $5 tickets with a 1:1 match for each Outlaws home game. To send one unit (group of kids + guardians) from MSCVH it takes 15 tickets and there are six Outlaws home games. What I would love to do is send at least two units to each game and get extras for the July 3, game for the fireworks.

What the Outlaws Have Offered

While attending the games will be a huge experience, many of them have never been inside Invesco Field, the Outlaws are taking it a step further to provide an additional unique experience for each game.

May 14th vs. Nationals: Pre-game meet and greet
- The kids will get one on one time with Outlaws players and the opportunity to obtain autographs and take pictures with the players
June 11th vs. Bayhawks: Locker Room/Production Bay Tour
- The kids will get the chance to see the Outlaws’ locker room and a behind the scenes look at where the TV magic happens
June 25th vs. Lizards: Pre-game field passes
- The kids will get to be on the field to watch pre-game warm ups
July 3rd vs. Cannons: Post-game fireworks
July 16th vs. Rattlers: Pre-game meet and greet
- The kids will get one on one time with Outlaws players and the opportunity to obtain autographs and take pictures with the players. This gives those kids who weren’t able to attend the first meet and greet session an additional opportunity.
July 30th vs. Cannons: On the field for player introductions (Team Tunnel)
- The kids will get to be on the field for player introductions with the team passing through the lines the kids form.

How to Get Involved

With tickets costing $5, it makes it easy to contribute to the your level Even if you can only afford to buy one ticket, with the Outlaws matching your purchase, at the very least, you’re sending two kids. I know it can seem rather odd to ask for ticket donations for a local charity, but this provides an opportunity for MSVCH to teach life and social skills that they would not otherwise get an opportunity to.

Want to get involved?! You can either contact me through the contact form or at mdafni at fanshelp.org.

Outlaws Players Celebrating after a Goal

On to Our 2nd Event

: Image via Wikipedia

I’m so excited I can hardly sit still with this news!

I’ve been working with the Denver Outlaws to do something similar for Mount Saint Vincent’s Home like what I did with the Colorado Mammoth and while we’re still ironing out the details, the Outlaws are really stepping up.

We’re looking at doing a Season Ticket package for MSVH so the kids will be able to attend all six home games. But in addition to that, the Outlaws will be doing some extras including teaching the kids how to play lacrosse!

After speaking with MSVH, since transportation can sometimes be an issue for them, I think one set of season tickets will work best, with some extras for the July 3rd game so the kids can enjoy the fireworks afterward. Kay said that with enough notice, they can work out the logistics.

Since the kids will be getting the opportunity to learn the sport of lacrosse, I’m also stepping up things to see if we can get a lacrosse company to donate some sticks. If you know anyone that would like to get involved, or can help, let me know!

Mammoth Fans Support Local Kids’ Home

Getting involved with local non-profits is important to me. But sometimes that can be harder to do than it should be.

As part of my company’s volunteer committee, I am fortunate in that I get to influence what organizations my company donates time and money too. Unfortunately, some of the organizations we have gotten involved with or tried to get involved with left a bad taste for both the committee and many of the the employees who volunteered their time or gave donations.

This year, we got involved with a local children’s program, Mount Saint Vincent Home. Touring the facility beforehand I was very impressed with them and what they’re trying to do. Our company would be donating our time to do two days of fun events for the children – painting ornaments, making reindeer puppet bags, decorating gingerbread houses and cookies.

When we asked what else could be done to help, they mentioned that in addition to the usual things, they really appreciated donations that allowed for them to take the kids out. Movie gift cards, restaurant gift cards, event tickets etc, as this allowed them to teach life and social skills in addition to giving the children a fun experience.

It’s amazing some of the skills we take for granted – ordering from a menu, making a purchase.

One of my co-workers was able to secure a number of tickets for Mount Saint Vincent to attend the Colorado Ballet’s performance of the Nutcracker. The day I volunteered, I got to listen to many of the kids’ excitement about their experience at the ballet. At least one of them demonstrated what the ballet dancers did and told me he wanted to learn ballet.

How great it was to see how much impact this really had on the kids. It made me want to do more.

As many people who know me know, I’m a HUGE lacrosse fan, and more specifically of the Colorado Mammoth. One of the great things about Mammoth games is that they’re affordable. You can take a family of four to a game for less than it costs to go to a movie.

I thought it would be a lot of fun to send the kids to a game. I contacted the Mammoth organization to find out what kind of a deal I might be able to work with them so I could afford more tickets. I was given a price. I then spoke with one of the ladies from Mount Saint Vincent to find out how many tickets they would need. She said 15 tickets would make it so they could send an entire unit including chaperons.

15 tickets was very doable, but I wished I could do more.

I sent out a challenge on Twitter, Facebook and to my fellow Mammoth fans to match me on tickets. I also went back to the Mammoth and asked if they would be willing to match us ticket for ticket. They were!

I thought I might get one of two people to help me out. Boy was I wrong! I had six people say they wanted to help! That’s a lot of tickets. One fellow fan wanted to do even more and rather than having the Mammoth match him on tickets, asked if they would match him on vouchers so the kids could have food and drinks at the games.

Seeing how much impact just a few of us were able to have inspired me, and thus Fans Help was born. With your help, I look forward to doing more in the upcoming year.

– Melissa