Flag Football Tourney Raises Money for Boys & Girls Club

The Moorestown Charitable Works Club (MCWC) is still looking for teams to participate in its next weekend to benefit the Boys & Girls Club of Camden County (BGCCC).

Joe Ehrline, a member of the club’s board of trustees, said they can take up to 48 teams, with up to 10 players per team. They’ve averaged about 450 players the last three years, he said. With a few hundred spectators, the event regularly attracts around 1,000 people.

“It’s Thanksgiving weekend. People bring their parents, their grandma, their cousins,” he said. “It’s literally just (people) coming out to have a good time. It’s one of those double benefits … They come out to have a good time, yet it helps a good cause.”

Ehrline said the BGCCC serves about 3,000 children in the area and is open to Burlington County youth as well.

Registration for the event is $200 per team. MCWC has raised $35,000 over the last three years, with $16,500 raised in 2010. Ehrline said he’d like to reach $20,000 this year.

Underscoring the importance of the Club and MCWC’s support of it, Ehrline pointed to the following figure: The dropout rate in Camden schools is 65 percent, yet the graduation rate of children who participate in the Boys & Girls Club is above 90 percent.

“It makes a huge difference as far as mentoring kids to stay in school,” he said.

The event starts at 9 a.m. Saturday, Nov. 26, at .

Ehrline said teams can register up until this Sunday (Nov. 20). Teams play a total of three 20-minute games in a row with 10 minutes between each game. There are still several open slots.

To register, visit the Moorestown Youth Football Association website.