When the Carolina Panthers announced in early July that they would be charging a $5 fee for tickets to their annual Fan Fest being held on August 4th, many fans expressed dismay that the event, which had been free to attend every year until 2017, would become inaccessible for local families to whom even a small charge was too much to afford. Panthers director of communications Steven Drummond said at the time, “Due to increased demand and precautions for fan safety, all patrons must have a ticket to attend the event, admission will be $5 for a reserved ticket. Proceeds from Fan Fest will benefit Carolina Panthers Charities and will support grant funding awards to non-profit organizations that serve communities in the two-state region.”
While many fans were upset at the mere notion of having to pay to watch an event that had previously been free, most thought of other fans this would have the most drastic effect on. In past years, Carolina Panthers Fan Fest may have been the only chance for lower income families to visit Bank Of America Stadium; the open practice may have been the only chance for fans to whom spending any portion of their salaries on tickets during the season to see their favorite team wasn’t an option. Many people complained and commiserated on message boards about the price increase.
Where many folks saw something they could complain about, Zack Luttrell and Carly Gardner saw an opportunity.
Luttrell, founder of the Roaring Riot, reached out to Gardner, an original member of the Queen City Riot who sits on the board of Good Friends Charlotte, to find the best fit for a fan-based initiative to help some families in need of help. The Good Friends Charlotte group focuses on gifts less than $500 to send kids to camp, pay an overdue electric bill, cover an insurance bill for an elderly or disabled person, or any small donation that can help to change a person’s life. They are currently associated with over 80 agencies throughout the Charlotte community, and Luttrell had previously interacted with The Bethlehem Center Of Charlotte, founded in 1940 to help provide educational opportunities for low income children and families to improve their quality of life, during the Santa Cam Event in 2016. It seemed like a perfect fit, they just needed to find a way to ensure that they could get the tickets, as last year’s Fan Fest sold out in less than an hour.
Enter social media.
Luttrell and Gardner sent out messages on social media, urging Panthers fans who were already planning on going to the event to purchase some extra tickets which they could then donate to The Bethlehem Center. Those who couldn’t get tickets could donate to the event via a gofundme page to help purchase some concessions for the families attending. The post:
With all of the craziness that’s come out of the Panthers organization this week it feels like the perfect time to switch it up, do something positive, and show the power we have when we work together.
When we all found out the Panthers were going to charge $5 for Fan Fest this year there was an overwhelming concern that the entry fee could potentially alienate lower income families from attending. For some families, Fan Fest has historically been the only night all season that they’re able to step foot inside Bank of America Stadium. The thought of this prompted Carly to act – and together we’ve coordinated a plan and we need your help to make it happen.
We’ve partnered with the Bethlehem Center of Charlotte and we’re asking all of you to help us help them. Here’s what YOU can do:
1) Fan Fest tickets go on sale TOMORROW. If you’re getting online to buy tickets, go ahead and buy all six that are available to you and send us the ones you’re not using. So for example, if you’re getting on to buy four tickets for your family, buy six and email us the other two. Or if you’re not planning on buying tickets you can still hop on there and grab a few and send them to us. We need them at least in pairs – so any number 2-6 is outstanding. Our goal is to obtain 300 tickets to turn over to the Center so that all of its kids and their families can attend Fan Fest. You can email the tickets to zluttrell@gmail.com
2) If you’re not interesting in jumping online for Fan Fest tickets there are other ways you can help. We’ve started a GoFundMe to pair with the tickets. For this, our goal is to raise AT LEAST $5/ticket that we can also donate to allow the attendees to make a purchase at the concession stands while at Fan Fest. So simple and plain (thanks Cam!), every $5 you donate will buy one of the kids a drink or hotdog. Here’s a link to is https://www.gofundme.com/FanFest2K17
3) If you’re not able to buy a few extra tickets or toss a couple of dollars, then you can also help by sharing this on your social media platforms. The more eyes it gets the better chance we have of reaching our goal.
If you’ve made it this far in this post then thank you for reading – I appreciate your time. And thank you in advance for being a part of creating a special evening for some awesome kids and their families.
The response was immediate and enormous. The gofundme page raised over $2,000 within 24 hours, and fans far and wide responded.
What a great idea! In an insane @Panthers news week, this is a real FEEL GOOD story we can ALL support! I just did.https://t.co/ikwpUDX011 https://t.co/yJ7SeTPMsB
— PanthersFan_inAfrica (@PanthersFan_Afr) July 21, 2017
I’m not going to FanFest this year but was happy to pay for someone else
— Susan (@CLTSCGirl) July 22, 2017
Happy to donate my 6 @Panthers Fan Fest tix to @RoaringRiotZ for The Bethlehem Center kids! I hope they have an absolute blast!! 💙🏈 pic.twitter.com/frROGunLOl
— susan (@scsusan1516) July 22, 2017
“The response was unbelievable. To see this many Roaring Riot members and Panthers fans come together so selflessly for those less fortunate, it really speaks to the kind of community and fanbase that we have here in Carolina. And not just here in Charlotte, we had members from all over participating,” said Luttrell. “We even received donations from members in Switzerland, Austria, Canada, and England. The amount of pride that gives me is indescribable.” The event has so far raised over $3,000 with 210 tickets donated.
The campaign will continue to accept donations until August 1st, and fans can donate to the event here.
