Portia Williams | Daily Times
Alumni from Portsmouth High School 80s and 90s football teams competed in a flag football game Sunday at Portsmouth Trojan Coliseum.
Portia Williams | Daily Times
Roy Hall, a former OSU Buckeye and NFL player, spoke to the crowd regarding the purpose of the flag football fundraising event.
Portia Williams
PDT Staff Writer
Flag Football for a Cause raised $5,900 for the non-profit organizations Driven and the Steven A. Hunter Hope Fund. The event was held Sunday at Portsmouth Coliseum.
Driven was founded by Roy Hall, former OSU Buckeye and NFL football player while the Steven A. Hunter Hope Fund — a well-established local charity that focuses on feeding hungry school children — was founded by Mark and Virgie Hunter.
Blair Copen, alumni of Portsmouth High School, was the coordinator of the event.
“I was introduced to Roy Hall about one year ago. I worked with Roy last December, handing out 100,000 pounds of food to homeless and less fortunate and I’ve been to two other events with him,” Copen said.
Copen said he and his friend Shane Desimone came up with the idea to bring Hall to Portsmouth and to construct a fundraiser with the Steven A. Hunter Foundation.
“I just started contacting whoever I could to get donations. I used Facebook to contact alumni from Portsmouth to see who would like to play,” Copen said. “It took a lot of time and effort, but it was well worth it.”
Copen said he wanted to help as much as he could to bring awareness, and to raise money for the Driven Foundation, and Steven Hunter Fund. According to Driven’s website, it is nonprofit organization committed to providing multiple outreach events, and motivational and fitness programs to families and youths throughout Central Ohio and surrounding cities.
“I would have liked to have had a bigger crowd to come out, sure. To have a football game, and no one actually got hurt, and had a good time it’s a good start for a first annual event,” Copen said.
Copen said he is already looking forward to next year’s event.
“Roy and I have decided we are going to basketball on Friday night, and then Saturday night roll it over to a football game,” Copen said.
Mark Hunter said he and his wife Virgie were delighted to work with Hall on the event.
“This has just been a wonderful experience, to meet someone with like-convictions. He is trying to make a difference with these kids, and may God bless him for coming,” Mark Hunter said.
Hall said his trip to Portsmouth was a great one and looks forward to partnering with other local groups in the near future.
“I think that today was a very successful first year, and next year we want to get more of the community involved, some of the churches. The Steven A. Hunter Fund is awesome, they are some great people and we want to work with more people in the community,” Hall said.
During the brief half-time of the game, Hall spoke to the game spectators about the need to give of themselves to the community.
“We all have something to give, I encourage you all to dig deep and find out what it is that you can help out with in this community, and keep giving,” Hall said.
The $5,900 raised from the Flag Football event will be divided evenly and dispersed to Driven and the Steven A. Hunter Fund.
Portia Williams may be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 286 or portiawilliams@civitasmedia.com. For breaking news, follow Portia on Twitter at PortiaWillPDT
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