“We are going to host our dodgeball tournament that has been going on for 10 years now. We’re super excited to see how that turns out, and looking forward to a great event that is for a great cause,” said Ryan Ray, development director at the Springfield Salvation Army.
The event will take place from 7:30 to 10 p.m. at 570 E. Leffel Lane in Springfield. Concessions will be provided on-site, and DJ House will provide live music for the night.
All fees paid for participation for this event will fund at-risk-youth programs for those in the Springfield area.
“The $30 fee that you pay to get into the tournament, not only allows you to play in a super fun dodgeball tournament, but it also goes to supporting your local Salvation Army, and specifically goes to helping our urban children’s programming and at-risk children’s programming. You can feel good about where your money’s going,” said Ray.
Players can work their way up to a champions’ tournament, with the chance to win T-shirts and trophies.
Participants must play in teams with a minimum of six players, with a maximum of 10 players. Six players at a time will be allowed to play.
“If you have any players above that [six], they will be subs, so you can sub players in and out at times when you are out. The six players can be coworkers, can be friends, could be family, do it as a family, or do it as an office team-building exercise. There are teams that get into this tournament that do not expect to win, aren’t even worried about that, just want to support the cause, but they want to be part of the experience, and they do that together, and have those great memories,” said Ray.
As much as there are competitive teams, there are most certainly amateur teams, he said. The age limit is 15 and older.
“We also normally wrangle in a demographic that doesn’t know a lot about the Salvation Army, or about what it does, so this allows us to kind of get the younger demographic in, and share with them who we are and what we do, like if you’ve seen the red kettle, then, ‘Why the red kettle?’ We’re more than the red kettle, and this will give us a chance to share our message and our mission,” he said.
Ray hopes to shed light on the work the Salvation Army has done and continues to do, and give a chance for the community to join their work by giving financially.
“You can feel good about where your money is going, and contribute to helping enrich the lives of the kids here in this community,” said Ray.
For more information, call 937-244-5262, or visit the Springfield Salvation Army Facebook page to register.
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