AFC Mobile Family,
AFC Mobile has been closely monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic, its impact on our partner businesses, our players and our community. The National Premier Soccer League board met yesterday, and we expect a final decision regarding the start of our season early next week. As a reminder, our home opener is scheduled for May 23. We are in communication with our staff and players about their health and well-being, and have made the decision to postpone the start of our training.
Today, we have three asks of you, as supporters of AFC Mobile and members of our community:
1: Support your local community
This pandemic and the resulting necessary measures taken in response will have a dramatic impact on our community – especially the most vulnerable members of our community. We’re asking you to consider making a donation or safely volunteering to support one of the groups helping to care for these members of our community. Some examples:
- Feeding the Gulf Coast – a food bank servicing the Gulf Coast from Mississippi to Florida: https://www.feedingthegulfcoast.org/
- Ozanam Charitable Pharmacy – a pharmacy that helps un-insured patients secure the medicine they need: http://ozanampharmacy.org/
- The Service Center of Catholic Social Services, which provides emergency assistance via food, clothing and monetary distributions for those struggling to pay bills or feed and clothe their family – https://www.catholicsocialservicesmobile.com/services/emergency-assistance/
There are many more organizations and people in our community working to assist their fellow Mobilians. We’ll do our best to keep you updated, and you can find more resources here: https://docs.google.com/document/u/2/d/1JbZaxv8TWtdqf0iawIn3aJs8rJE4I7XtW0Ged7-l5yw/mobilebasic.
2: Support your local businesses
We’ve been proud over the last 3-4 years to work directly with some of the most exciting and passionate local businesses in Mobile. They’ve supported us when we desperately needed it, and now they need as much support as possible. If you can, consider picking up a gift card from a local business shut down during the break, or taking advantage of any of the curbside pickup and delivery options available: https://www.mobile.org/about/covid-19-update/local-business-updates/
We’ll also be updating our website at afcmobile.net/covid19 to track any local businesses who are still open and safely operating during this time. If you have a business you’d like shouted-out, just drop us a line at information@afcmobile.net.
Finally, Mobile’s got a fantastic, creative and caring service industry that is the face of our city and culture to so many. Without tips, they’ll be devastated. Thanks to our friend Galen Riley of the Chattahooligans, and members of our own Causeway Rebellion Supporters Group, we’re going to be utilizing the platform at https://serviceindustry.tips/en/al/mobile/ to show our appreciation. We hope you’ll do the same. If you know anyone in the service industry, that website will walk through how to get them listed. If you have any questions, we’ll try to help.
3. Support your local club.
Like any other business, AFC Mobile is dealing with the fallout from the pandemic. Our prospective and existing partners are going through a period of great uncertainty, and many are, understandably, reconsidering their ability to sponsor our team over the next few months. The month of March is where we usually see a big increase in merchandise and season ticket sales, which we have not seen this year. We are also dealing with uncertainty in our ability to host players, a severe delay in finding potential host families, delays in getting out-of-area players to Mobile, as well as drastically pushing back our training schedule. Every t-shirt, season ticket or scarf you buy helps us continue our mission of advocating for our city, culture and community while bringing a high level of passionate soccer to Mobile. Additionally, 20% of all shop proceeds will be donated to Feeding the Gulf Coast for the next 30 days. You can find our shop at afcmobile.net/shop. If you prefer we wait to ship your products to you, just leave a note in the order or email us at information@afcmobile.net.
During this uncertain time, we value your safety and well-being above all. Each of us at AFC Mobile asks you to practice appropriate social distancing measures, good hygiene, and support local businesses such as restaurants by purchasing meals for take-out. Check out afcmobile.net/covid19 for a running list of local restaurants currently offering take-out and other resources.
Yours in community,
The Board of Directors of AFC Mobile
