Seahawks, 49ers fans battle to raise most money for children’s hospitals
Dec 23, 2013, 3:05 PM | Updated: 5:48 pm
A much talked about billboard taunting the 12th Man - paid for by San Francisco 49ers fans - has made its Northwest debut. But you'll have to go all the way to Fife to see it. (GoFundMe image)
(GoFundMe image)
A much talked about billboard taunting the 12th Man – paid for by San Francisco 49ers fans – has made its Northwest debut. But you’ll have to go all the way to Fife to see it.
Aasheesh Shravah came up with the idea to tout the 49ers five Super Bowl titles in Seattle after some Seahawks fans raised money to fly a banner behind an airplane over Candlestick Park several weeks ago.
In response, Shravah launched a campaign of his own with some 49ers faithful. They’ve raised $11,000, well over the $7,000 goal to put up the billboard for a month.
While the plans originally called for a sign near CenturyLink Field, it has instead gone up as a digital sign along I-5 in Fife. Shravah says they’ll be rotating several images, but for now are alternating between one that says “Got Lombardis?” and shows the five Super Bowl trophies won by San Francisco, and another with a picture of quarterback Colin Kaepernick saying “Bring Us Home Another One, Kid.”
The ongoing battle has been a boon for charitable causes. The guys behind the banner donated thousands of dollars raised beyond the cost to fly the Seahawks sign over San Francisco to the Wounded Warrior Project.
Shravah and his group are donating all the extra funds raised to Seattle Children’s Hospital in a goodwill gesture.
Not to be outdone, a group of Seahawks fans have launched a new campaign of their own to spread the love to kids in San Francisco.
“Much like our amazing quarterback Russell Wilson, who personally spends much time and resources visiting with kids at Seattle Children’s Hospital, we want to show that Hawks fans too will go above and beyond! So we are raising funds that will all be donated, on behalf of Seahawks fans, to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital in San Francisco,” says organizer Aaron Managhan.
“In the first four days, we’re over $8,000, have secured and maxed a $5,000 match from Suquamish Clearwater Casino toward Seattle Children’s, and an anonymous 49ers fan is matching what we raise for UCSF and donating it to SCH, up to $100,000,” he says.
On the field, there might not be much love lost between the two cities. But off the field is clearly another story.
