Bringing local sports stars, businesses and charities together with the fun of ten pin bowling, the inaugural Charity Super Bowl made for an uplifting afternoon in the midst of Mental Health Month.
With over 90 people converging on Kingpin Canberra for the occasion, the Charity Super Bowl saw athletes from the UC Capitals, CBR Brave and Lifeline Cavalry strike up fun alongside corporate sponsors and charity partners to raise funds for Menslink and Lifeline Canberra.
CBR Brave and Canberra Cavalry CEO/director Dan Amodio said the event was founded from the idea to create an event to raise funds for Mental Health Month and came together out of a strong relationship between the UC Capitals and his teams.
โItโs just so great to get everyone together again โฆ we missed the entire ice hockey season this year and havenโt had a chance to get all of our sponsors and partners and players together for a long time.
โWe had so much interest and so much excitement for this event, and that was a big part of it, we realised how much these teams, for a lot of people, are a big family,โ he said.
A live charity auction of sporting memorabilia raised $5,500, marking the end of a perfect game.
The Charity Super Bowl was also the debut of the newly established Village Building Cavalry Community Fund, an initiative designed to mobilise the Canberra sporting and corporate sectors to raise funds for local organisations.
Mr Amodio said the fund came about after he worked with Village Building on a fundraising project for the bushfires late last year, after which they decided to โkick it up a notchโ.
Having announced a naming rights partnership with the Cavalry earlier this month, Lifeline Canberra CEO Carrie-Anne Leeson said the goal of their partnership this year is to get to community to โre-imagine reconnectingโ.
โIf we scratch people just a little bit, weโll see a bit of fear and uncertainty there, but people are obviously wanting to come out and reconnect, and thatโs the first step,โ Ms Leeson said.
โTodayโs about coming together, itโs been absolutely hilarious โฆ Any other sport might have a different impact, but bowling is certainly the perfect pick.
โCommon cause, common ground, the great equaliser that is ten pin bowling, itโs been fantastic.โ
Menslink CEO Martin Fisk said it was great to have support from the wider community at a time when both charities โneed it more than everโ.
โWe need human connection. Zoom and Google Chat โฆ theyโre a poor substitute; if thatโs the best weโve got then thatโs okay, but theyโre very transactional environments, theyโre not that rich, human environment we crave,โ he said.
โBeing able to provide services that allow people to connect is our way in the whole community sector to try and have that human connection and dampen down both the symptoms of anxiety and their effects.โ
