A little flag football adds up to a lot of help

Leave Moorestown, drive 10 miles west on Route 38, and you enter the city of Camden. Although getting from one to the other takes a matter of minutes, the upscale Moorestown and the poverty-ridden city are in many ways worlds apart.

A group of Moorestown residents, however, is working to connect the communities.

The Moorestown Charitable Works Club's latest effort is a massive Flag Football Charity Bowl, organized by Joe Ehrline, a Laurel Creek resident and parent, and Kate Morken, a first-grade teacher at South Valley Elementary School.

Set for Nov. 29, the Charity Bowl will involve dozens of volunteers from Moorestown, and will raise money for the Boys and Girls Club of Camden County.

Milford Liss, the club's executive director, is happy that people outside Camden have a sense of the city's needs.

"I think everybody understands that there's virtually no way that the city itself is going to save the young people," Liss said.

In many cases, Ehrline said, the extent of a family's charitable contribution is writing a check - an act that fails to include children. The Charity Bowl, meanwhile, will incorporate youngsters to play in the games, referee them, and clean up the fields.

Mike Connelly of Moorestown has been organizing the games and playing fields and recruiting referees.

Connelly, who is volunteering his time, said the longstanding tradition of Thanksgiving football lent itself to the fund-raiser.

"Rather than everybody just grabbing a piece of grass and playing in different places . . . why don't we have 40 of these games in one place?" Connelly said. He added that the real appeal of the event was its worthy cause.

Ehrline said the Charity Bowl would help instill the value of charitable service in children.

"We wanted to get the kids involved so they see what a charity is and where the money goes," Ehrline said.

The games will take place between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the Wesley Bishop football fields on Church Street in Moorestown. It will consist of 30-minute games, played in five age divisions from third grade through adult. Each division will have 10 teams.

Teams will pay a $100 entry fee; prizes will be given to teams that exceed that amount. All proceeds will go directly to the Boys and Girls Club.

Corporate sponsorships would help offset the cost of uniforms, prizes and insurance.

Ehrline and Morken trace the beginnings of the Charitable Works Club to a Diane Sawyer 20/20 segment televised in January 2007. The special, "Waiting on the World to Change," followed the lives of three Camden youths for 18 months.

"People saw the need and the living conditions of the children of Camden," Liss said. He added that the Charity Bowl would allow families "to actually get involved and take a stance to try and help the young people of Camden."

Founded in 2001, the Boys and Girls Club of Camden County serves more than 3,500 children. Within two years of opening, the club was able to open a second facility in East Camden.

"The dedication of the staff and the facilities are amazing," Morken said. She added that it seemed only natural to support the club, and her group has also conducted a coat drive to benefit the agency.

Though this is the Charity Bowl's first year, it's already shaping up to be a massive event that will continue.

Ehrline said, "It's going to get bigger and bigger."

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