Touch football fundraisers appearing at NFL stadiums

When Nicole Fountain was on the staff for MetLife Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands, planning events was among her main duties.

Fountain worked with such artists as Bruce Springsteen, Kenny Chesney and Taylor Swift, who staged concerts in the building. She organized major events and oversaw social media for the stadium while running media relations during Giants, Jets and college football games and international soccer matches.

Then she had an idea that has morphed into something special: Touch of Football, a fundraiser for the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation.

“I had joined forces with the foundation’s local chapter in New Jersey,” says Fountain, who suffers from the inflammatory bowel disease. “I was about to do a half-marathon with the foundation and was asking about all the things they put on. I was always looking to host new events, and perhaps bring more awareness to the foundation and fundraising.

“I had the idea to put on a charity football tournament in the stadium.”

The Giants and Jets were interested in helping, and in 2011 the event debuted. The team with the highest fundraising amount for a Touch of Football event stands on the field during a New York Giants game in East Rutherford, N.J.

More than $100,000 was raised.

“A ton of teams wanted to not only have the experience of taking the field during the NFL season on the same turf as their favorite players on the Jets and Giants,” Fountain explains, “but there were all these people who knew someone that had the disease who didn’t realize anything was being done on a local level.

“So we started doing it annually at the stadium.”

Soon, four other NFL stadiums were hosting Touch of Football games, in Seattle, Denver, Minneapolis

and Foxborough, Massachusetts. By the end of 2018, the Touch of Football events are projected to have raised $2.7 million.

On Nov. 4, the eighth annual New Jersey tournament will take place at MetLife Stadium and is projected to raise nearly $115,000.

It’s estimated that more than 3 million people in the United States have Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis. The Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation is the largest nonprofit, voluntary, health organization dedicated to finding cures for the diseases

and to improve the quality of life of children and adults who are affected by these diseases.

The Foundation works to fulfill its mission by funding research; providing educational resources for patients and their families, medical professionals, and the public; and furnishing supportive services for those afflicted.

There are 38 chapters of the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation in the nation.

Among those afflicted are such athletes and former pros as Larry Nance Jr., David Garrard and Matt

JUSTIN FOUNTAIN VIA AP