Fundraising

Charity Paintball Festival

The First Annual Charity Paintball Festival was held at Three Rivers Paintball Park (Freedom, PA) on Saturday, October 2, 2004. The event had been rescheduled from the original date set for September 18 due to the inclement weather and flooding caused by Hurricane Ivan.

All proceeds from the Festival benefit the Cranberry Community Cancer Foundation, a registered nonprofit 501©3 organization, which is dedicated to raising funds for cancer research in seeking a cure for this dreadful disease.

The Festival consisted of nine games which were played on five heavily-wooded fields of highly diverse terrain containing numerous bunkers, structures and hazards. The games initially involved four-player teams and, as the day progressed, expanded to twelve- and fifteen-player teams. This strategy allowed the players to obtain the greatest variation in game experiences in paintball for a single-day event.

An abundance of good food and refreshments was served during the course of the day and was kindly provided by two major sponsors: Giant Eagle of Cranberry and Monte Cello’s of Cranberry.

Door prizes were distributed, via a raffle, to the players of the Festival. These prizes were donated primarily by the following major sponsors: Dick’s Sporting Goods and Gander Mountain – Robinson Town Centre.

The other sponsors for this event include Wal-Mart (Cranberry), Kings Family Restaurant (Cranberry), and Max & Erma’s,
Eat-N-Park, and CiCi’s Pizza Restaurants.

A sincere thank you and appreciation are extended to all of the sponsors and donors for this event.

Trophies were awarded to two players who deserve special recognition for their accomplishments in the Festival. These players are: (1) Sean Erskine (Cheswick) for his leadership and successful efforts in putting together a five-player team and
(2) Nick Colaizzi (Cranberry) for being the first Cranberry registrant for the Festival. All of the other players will receive Paintball Medallions for their participation in the event.

A number of very positive responses have been received from the players of the Festival. They have already requested a repeat of the event in 2005.