Season-ticket holders and players on Wednesday helped put together a Memorial Day displayPATRIOTS
The Patriots have discovered their season-ticket holders are ready to work, finding strong demand among their best customers to join the team’s charitable activities. Twenty-five season-ticket holders on Wednesday joined three players at Boston Common, where the Patriots helped install thousands of American flags for an annual Memorial Day display. It was the latest in a series of monthly activities organized by the team’s community relations division since January '18 to involve fans. The first project, a simple invitation to fans at Gillette Stadium to leave their gameday blankets in donation bins for the homeless, far exceeded expectations with 1,400 blankets. It spurred the ongoing program, which includes a project to provide beds for children, visits to homeless shelters and a project to fill backpacks with school supplies for children on military bases. There now are 400 season-ticket holders who have asked to volunteer, said Patriots Community Relations Dir Donna Spigarolo. Opportunities are posted in the season-ticket holder newsletter and are also available to people on the waiting list.
ADDED VALUE TO TICKET PACKAGES: Along with adding more workers to the labor, the innovation also adds value to a season-ticket package -- it is a new fan-team touchpoint built out of an event that would have been happening anyway. “They just enjoy the experience,” Spigarolo said. “They enjoy being there, enjoy interacting with the organization, and enjoy giving back with the organization.” It also allows the community relations division to commit to programs when players are not available. Harry Wildman, a season-ticket holder since '83, has joined every event since the program’s founding. As a retired widower, he volunteers to occupy his day, and he has found it is a good way to get his grandchildren to volunteer. He also likes the Patriots’ broad approach to philanthropy, spreading it around various causes. “It’s an honor for me to be able to do it, and it’s also a pleasure,” Wildman said. “I do enjoy the people I meet. I’d be remiss if I didn’t say I enjoyed getting to meet some of the players.” Patriots LS Joe Cardona, who joined in Wednesday at Boston Common and has done other activities with the ticket holders, said players working alongside fans has been a rewarding experience. “To have their support on Sundays is great, but to have the support of the causes we find important, and them mobilizing and working with us, it means a lot,” he said.
