Cherry Crusade President Sits Down With the WHIP News Team
The Cherry Crusade has a tangible presence at every Temple sporting event, from football to basketball to field hockey and volleyball. It has been an incredibly special Fall athletics season
for Temple and for the Cherry Crusade as well. As the leading student organization for school pride at sporting events, the Cherry Crusade is looking to make this year even more extraordinary.
Cherry Crusade President Sam Forman explains why the Cherry Crusade is bringing tifos, massive banners, to Temple sporting events.
“The team’s running out; they’ve got the fireworks; they’ve got the band; everyone is really excited and they look to their right and there’s this huge banner,” Forman described. “This large banner will do what it does for other fan groups, which is really be an exclamation point on the excitement around the program.”
Forman and the rest of the Cherry Crusade quickly realized that such an initiative would not come cheap. So the Crusaders took up an internet campaign to raise $2,000 via Gofundme.com, a website where patrons can donate to one’s cause.
Cherry Crusade Marketing Coordinator Sarah Driscoll says the campaign took off quickly.
“So we made the Gofundme account and we constantly posted it on Twitter, on Instagram,” Driscoll said. “Everyone was really involved. Luckily we have this great, outstanding support. This huge Temple family: alumni, students, parents, everyone was really helpful.”
The Cherry Crusade met their goal of $2,000 in six days thanks to 53 donors, including Cherifa Nouri-Howarth, a Temple alumna of the Class of 1998. Nouri-Howarth played field hockey for the Owls and achieved First-team All-American status. Out of the blue, she donated $500 to the tifos campaign.
“It literally just popped up,” Driscoll said. “She’s really excited about seeing it and she’s really excited about being a part of it.”
“We have a Groupme and I sent a screenshot and asked everyone to confirm the amount of zeroes,” Forman recalled. “We want to thank everyone for really helping us reach this goal.”
The Cherry Crusade will debut the first tifo at Temple’s home football game against Notre Dame on Halloween.
The tifos will then be present to boost the morale of the TU community at all home football and basketball games.
