Nov. 3—PLATTSBURGH — Benjamin Lambert and Andrew Bula, Plattsburgh High School Seniors, raised $4,000 for the Fitzpatrick Cancer Center through their first ever Goals for Hope soccer event.
“We wanted to support a good cause and give back to the community,” Lambert said.
The event, Goals for Hope, included a 50/50 raffle, silent auction, cake pops for sale, prizes, music, food and of course soccer.
SEEING SMILES ON FACES
Soccer players between 6-years of age and 16-years registered to compete in the form of a 50 team, three-v-three soccer tournament.
“It is good to see the youth of the area develop an interest, and their skill, in the sport,” Bula said.
“We love soccer, so seeing the smile on the kids’ faces is great. We want younger kids to have the chance to play the sport with their friends again before it gets too cold.”
AMAZING OPPORTUNITY
The tournament started at 9 a.m. at the Plattsburgh High School turf field. Gary Lambert, Benjamin’s father, did the announcing. The games concluded at 3:30 p.m.
Tammy’s Lunchbox and Mr-Ding-a-Ling were on site, providing food available for purchase.
Lambert and Bula, both are members of the boys soccer team, organized the event together with the help of their mothers; Sonya Lambert and Leanne Bula, who helped make cake-pops and register the participating teams.
“This is just an amazing opportunity for the boys to give back to the community,” Sonya said.
VISITED LOCAL BUSINESES
The two personally visited over 70 local businesses to solicit donations for the tournament.
“I was impressed with how willing businesses were to support this event,” Lambert said.
“Some donated gift cards for the raffles, some donated money, and we also had these T-shirts donated by Warren Tire and Luck Brothers.”
SHARING THE SPORT
While the main purpose of the event was to raise funds for the Cancer Center, the boys enjoyed sharing the experience of the sport with younger athletes.
According to Gary, It also gave local athletes from Chazy to Peru another chance to get touches on the ball in a friendly environment before the snow flies.
“It was probably the most exciting tournament I have ever been to,” Gary said.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE
The boys officially presented a giant check to Rachel Kern, RN and Infusion Services Manager at the Fitzpatrick Cancer Center, on Wednesday.
“Raising these funds is so important for a number of different reasons,” Kern said.
“It really impacts our patients. While treating cancer is difficult in and of itself, there’s a lot of different impacts and one of them is financial. Some patients don’t even have the funds to be able to get here. So fundraising like this impacts that, it allows us to get them here, it allows us to buy equipment for patients or even subsidize some of the treatments patients need.”
“We cannot thank the boys enough.”
E-mail: [email protected]
Twitter: @jlotemplio
Source: https://sports.yahoo.com/soccer-tourney-raises-funds-cancer-113500506.html
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