The Philadelphia Flyers are setting the standard for community outreach.
The Philadelphia Flyers are known historically for their physical brand of hockey and commitment to being an on-ice characterization of Philadelphia's blue-collar reputation. But in recent years, the Flyers have become the gold standard among sports franchises for their charitable efforts in the community.
Whether it's the Gritty 5K — a charity race that involves confetti, hot dogs, and people having cake thrown at them — or the Flyers Charities Carnival — one of the longest-running fundraisers ever conceived by a professional sports franchise — the Flyers have set the standard for creating fun, community-focused events that fans of any age can enjoy.
The Flyers' dedication to serving the community has only intensified in recent years, and the person leading the charge is none other than Cindy Stutman.
Stutman has been with the Flyers for 20 years — 25 years in total with Comcast Spectacor. For much of her career, Stutman's primary duties involved working with box office operations and season ticket members. Now, as Senior Vice President of Community Relations and Executive Director of Flyers Charities, her focus has been directed toward bettering communities throughout the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area.
In the past year, Flyers Charities and Community Relations merged to sit under one leadership group and follow the same strategic direction. Stutman believes the integration of Flyers Charities and Community Relations was a big step in putting together one of the Flyers' more active years ever in community outreach.
"It's been fantastic, because it's allowed us to kind of do some bigger things and really ultimately have a bigger impact in the community. Where we have had similar goals before, we haven't necessarily had the same streamlined initiatives before," said Stutman.
"It's important for us as Flyers Charities to support local organizations, but it's also important for us to support our causes and specifically with growing the sport of hockey."
Increasing hockey's exposure is at the forefront of the Flyers' community outreach goals. In 2022, Flyers Charities donated $400,000 to help renovate the Scanlon Recreation Center in Kensington to include a new outdoor street hockey rink. The newly refurbished Scanlon Recreation Center was completed in May and is now officially open to the public.
The addition of more outdoor rinks couldn't come at a better time. In February, the NHL partnered with RCX Sports to launch NHL Street — a program dedicated to bringing ball hockey to kids around North America. Street leagues began in the spring in select markets across the U.S. and Canada.
With street hockey quickly becoming an area of focus for the NHL at large, the Flyers are hopeful to leave an even bigger footprint in their own backyard after the opening of the new and improved rink in Kensington.
"For us, (the Scanlon renovation) was really a pilot," said Stutman. "We're hoping to duplicate that in areas throughout the city and in the suburbs and build rinks, give kids access to places where they can play, and perhaps create additional programs with funding from Flyers Charities that will allow kids in under-resourced areas to have equipment and have access to all the things that allow them to play this game, and to play it for an extended period of time."
The Flyers Charities Carnival and the Gritty 5K have become staples in the Flyers' annual rotation of charitable events, but Flyers Charities has launched several other initiatives to help give back to the community in recent years.
Last season, the Flyers hosted the first-ever Casino Night at Rivers Casino, which raised money to help fund the organization's projects throughout the Philadelphia area. Casino Night allowed fans to interact with Flyers players and coaches (dressed in Casino Royale-style outfits) while playing games including craps and blackjack.
The Flyers also launched a new program that involved each player on the roster pairing up with a charitable initiative to help give back to the community. For instance, Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim opted to bring awareness to the fight against prostate cancer and served as key members in the "Flyers Against Prostate Cancer" initiative as part of a collaboration with Penn Medicine’s Abramson Cancer Center. Konecny and Sanheim appeared in a hilarious PSA to support the cause, which helped community members in underserved neighborhoods undergo prostate cancer screenings at mobile testing sites.
"It was so exciting to launch that (program), and it was really something the whole team embraced," said Stutman.
"It gave them some visibility to the public in terms of making these causes more visible, but also, these were causes that all these guys are really passionate about and made it so much better."
The Flyers will continue this program for the 2023-24 season. Fans can expect players to be paired up with new (or continued) charitable initiatives during training camp.
As the 2023-24 season approaches, Flyers Charities are deep into the process of organizing its lineup of key events for the coming season. Unsurprisingly, the Gritty 5K, Flyers Charities Carnival, and Casino Night will all be highlights on the events calendar, and the Flyers Recess program — a school assembly program focused on teaching kids the importance of mental and physical wellness — will help continue the organization's mission of introducing hockey to Philadelphia's youth.
Fans may also see some new additions to the events calendar in the not-too-distant future.
"The team's thought is we're just getting started," said Stutman. "I think fans can expect to see a lot more coming from us. A lot more big things coming. And there's always ways to get involved."
If you'd like to support Flyers Charities, visit the Flyers Charities web page and take part in upcoming Flyers Charities events, which you can view here.