The Sons of Ben come together for the Groff Family

Michelle Stella reached out to the Sons of Ben several weeks back and told us the story of the Groff Family. The Groffs had lost their house in a fire, and their 9 year old son, Blake, was most upset that his Philadelphia Union jersey was destroyed by the fire. The jersey was signed by a couple players. Stella asked if we could get him a signed jersey to replace the lost one. Right away we said, of course we can. The Sons of Ben Board decided we could do something a bit more special as well. Thanks to the Union and Mark Evans, we were able to get Blake a new jersey signed by the team and invited the Groff family to a Union match, where the Union donated the tickets and VIP parking pass for the May 17th match. We invited the family to our tailgate where we presented Blake with his new signed jersey and some other surprises. We decided that since you shouldn’t wear a team signed jersey – we had a personalized jersey made for Blake. Blake’s father, Bruce, helped us find out his shirt size and the number he wears for his youth soccer team, and we had his name printed on the back. Blake’s face lit up when he saw the jersey, but we weren’t done yet. We then informed Blake that he was the newest member of the Sons of Ben family, and welcomed him with his very own SoB membership card, pin, decal and 2014 scarf. Once we handed everything over to the Groff family, we let them enjoy the tailgate, ventured over to the Toyota Plaza, and then the match.  Blake was in TRE to witness Le Toux’s penalty kick goal, and Blake even got to wave the big flag. A handful of players were nice enough to stop by and shake hands with Blake and his sister, including Zach Pfeffer, Ray Gaddis, Le Toux, Leo Fernandes and a bunch of others. Before they left the Groff family thanked us, and Mr. Groff told us how much he appreciated everything we had done for his son and family. Even though the score wasn’t ideal, I know we made a lasting impression on this family and a fan for life, which made the whole day a lot better!