by Braden Berg (for Ozarks Sports Zone)
Friday night football games are nothing without the fans, especially the student sections who dress-up and get rowdy to have fun.
The Glendale Flock wanted to make a difference this week for others.
The players may be wearing blue or black… but it was all purple in the stands… and it was for Harmony House’s iCare event.
“With October being domestic violence awareness month we recruit local business and organizations to raise awareness to the issue of domestic violence, and also to raise funds for the operation of our organization.” said Ivy Shelden, volunteer coordinator with Harmony House.
Glendale high school is one of the organizations that is participating.
“They are right down the street from us, it makes a lot of sense that we would be business partners with them. We thought the symbolism is really neat that the athletic body that is stereo typically seen as tough and strong people partner with a group that represents victims.” said Mitch Pycior, athletic director for Glendale.
“If they have these athletes out there wearing the black eye stickers and saying they stand up for women and men who are victims, that is a powerful statement for the youth in our community.” said Shelden.
The black eye stickers represent a “black eye” and domestic violence.
The school even designed purple t-shirts to sell to raise money for Harmony House.
“Originally we ordered about 450.” said Abbey Hirsch, manager for the school store The Nest. “We started seling the shirts actually this Tuesday, so we have only had four days to sell them, so to see them sell out so quickly just shows how much support Glendale has for this cause.”
And student leaders are taking it upon themselves to keep their peers informed.
“I want people to be able to get involved that are younger because there are people that we go to school with, and we might not realize it but domestic violence starts out really young.” said Lauren Horton, one of the leaders of The Flock.
“Greene county has the highest percentage of domestic violence issues in the state. So it is here, it is in our community. These kids are either dealing with it or know someone who is dealing with it.” said Pycior.
Last year Harmony House’s iCare event was able to raise $200,000Â dollars for their organization.
You can still enroll to be in the iCare event. If you are interested, contact Harmony House.
