Ladies and gentlemen, we are back. Although in some ways, we never left.
Like most organizations in the year of our lord Jim Calhoun, 2020; our best laid plans were abruptly upended. I would love to tell you that we were able to pivot and change our programming, but for an organization whose mission is to foster the next generation of Husky fans through attendance at sporting events, switching to Zoom was not in the cards for us. We had hoped that some number of fans would be allowed to attend Football and Basketball; however the former was cancelled and the latter returning with no fans in attendance. It was truly back to the drawing board for us.
In partnership with the University, we found a way to “send kids to games”, even if they couldn’t physically be in the building. Like many sports programs in the country, UConn hopped on board the trend seen across the sports world this summer – cardboard cutouts with a season pass to cheer on the home team. We ran the idea by our usual ticket recipients and they happily answered the call to “send their kids”, their likeness anyway, to attend Men’s and Women’s basketball this season through the cardboard cutout program.
The E.B. Kennelly School and Mansfield Youth Services provided nearly 100 pictures of their most ardent UConn fans to sit in the Husky Ticket Project Section in Gampel this season.
The E.B. Kennelly School is part of the Hartford Public School system serving grades Pre-K through 8th and is run by Principal June Cahill – I swear to god she might be a bigger UConn fan than us.
Mansfield Youth Services provides mentorship and counseling, among many other youth services programs to children living in the Mansfield area. Sarah Dufresne runs the program there and we cannot wait to get her kids back to another UConn basketball game next season.
More information about the great work these organizations are doing can be found here:
http://www.mansfieldct.gov/MansfieldYouthServices
https://www.hartfordschools.org/enroll/school-directory-2/e-b-kennelly-school/