Flyers Charities/Community Touches All Facets of Delaware Valley Life

The measure of a National Hockey League organization is not just how it fares on the ice in terms of wins and losses. In the bigger picture, the ultimate impact is how strongly a franchise connects with -- and serves -- the quality of life in the community as a whole.

From the time the Flyers were founded, going back to the earliest charity and community-building endeavors of the Snider family, executive Joe Scottm the players and their spouses, the Philadelphia Flyers have built an unbreakable bond with the Delaware Valley. Building continuously upon that half-century-plus legacy of serving the community is something that remains a top priority, both within the public eye and behind the scenes.

Recently, the Flyers released the 2023 edition of the annual "Community Impact Report", assembling the extremely diverse array of programs, events, fundraising and donations made by the Flyers organization as a whole and by the Flyers Charities/Community department as well as the Flyers Alumni Association.

To see the lavishly illustrated 2022-23 Community Impact Report, click here. For an overview of Flyers Charities and Community's ongoing functions and projects, visit the Flyers Charities Website.

The combined level of outreach and positive contributions to the quality of life in the community and to individual people and families is incalculable. It's something that takes a team-wide effort in every segment of the organization including Hockey Operations. There's no off-season when it comes to community impact: it's a 12-month, 365 day commitment in perpetuity.

The growth over the past year in particular has been especially dramatic. Just a few of the most notable highlights include the completion and unveiling of the massive Scanlon Recreation Center renovation project, the hugely successful launch of the first annual Casino Night fundraising event, the return of the iconic yearly Carnival to the Wells Fargo Center, the yearly summertime Community Caravan tour, a brand-new initiative involving the matching of every player on the current Flyers roster assisting a local community/charity of personal interest,the yearly Gritty 5k (the 2023-24 edition will be held on on Oct. 21, 2023), and much more.

"It's been a very busy year but also a fantastic year," said Cindy Stutman, the Flyer's Senior Vice President of Community Relations and Executive Director of Flyers Charities.

"Our organization's slogan for 2023-24 is 'A New Era of Orange,' which applies to the Hockey Operations side, of course, but also involves every facet of the Philadelphia Flyers, including Charities and Community."

Over the last year, for the first time, Flyers Charities and Flyers Community has been streamlined from two separate departments into a single, expanded department. There has always been a good deal of overlap between the functions of the two, and the combined efforts have been brought under the same umbrella.

Their efforts have received full support under the auspices of Dan Hilterty as chairman and CEO of Comcast Spectacor and governor of the Flyers along with the promotion of Blair Listino to Chief Administration and Financial Officer, Flyers Alternate Governor and Chair of the Flyers Charities Board. Likewise, Flyers General Manager Danny Briere, President of Hockey Operations Keith Jones and head coach John Tortorella have brought similar levels of enthusiasm for supporting the community and charity endeavors that they've brought to how they represent the team on the ice and/or behind the bench.

"I've been amazed at how our Charities and Community Relations teams continue to expand their impact in communities throughout the region, year after year. Now, with Cindy leading both teams under one strategic vision, the opportunities are really endless. These groups are honoring and building on the Flyers' legacy of giving back to the community, which started with our founder, Ed Snider, and we couldn't be prouder of that," Listino said.

Two of the perpetual goals of the Flyers organization have been the promotion of the sport of ice hockey within the community at large -- providing access to the sport, instruction and coaching from the novice to more advanced amateur levels -- and supporting families directly affected by cancer. Programs related to these objectives have continued to expand.

On the amateur hockey side, under the auspices of Rob Baer (Flyers Senior Director of Community Relations and Hockey Development) and the on-ice and off-ice co-leadership of the likes of Brad Marsh and Bob "the Hound" Kelly, the Flyers and Flyers Alumni have forged inseparable ties with the Flyers Warriors program for ambulatory disabled veterans. The Flyers also provide support for the Flyers PowerPlay power wheelchair hockey program and the Flyers Special Hockey program. The Flyers Learn to Play Program, one of the most popular and successful of the NHL-wide initiative of the same name is one of the most successful such programs across North America.

Simultaneously, the Flyers Charities/Community division also remains very in support of not-for-profit organizations that provide direct support to families affected by cancer, as well as non-profits that help grow the game of hockey to be inclusive of new and diverse participants and audiences, and ones who support continuous improvement in sustainability and environmental responsibility within the community. The 2023-24 grant cycle is underway NOW and applications for grants from Flyers Charities can be submitted online. To access the grant application interface online, click here.

Specific to player involvement in the community, Stutman notes that the likes of Sean Couturier and Scot Laughton have long worked tirelessly and enthusiastically to support such efforts; such as Couturier's support for Snider Hockey and Laughton's participation in multiple programs including cancer-related endeavors and support of Pride Night. Likewise, Travis Konecny and Travis Sanheim took leading roles in the prostate cancer awareness drive and PSA undertaken last year. Cam Atkinson has been a tireless supporter of veterans initiatives in general and an advocate for Flyers Warriors program (as are other teammates). With some of the most respected figures within the locker room passionate about such initiatives, their teammates have collectively been eager to follow suit. For example, young players Morgan Frost and Owen Tippett donated volunteer time to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Philadelphia.

"We met with Flyers players during Media Day last year and got a sense of what community service programs and charities they were already involved with or would be interested in participating in," Stutman said. "The response was tremendous and very gratifying. The Player-Community match came together seamlessly and was an instant success. That's definitely something we're excited to continue growing as we move forward."

Yet another development of note on the community side: The Flyers Alumni Association has reached a pair of million-dollar milestones. On the fundraising side, the Alumni have had their first million-dollar fundraising year to help support Alumni-administered programs such as Every Child Deserves a Bike and the annual 12 Days of Christmas giving drive (entering its fourth year come the 2023 holiday season). Additionally, the Flyers Alumni Association has reached $1,000,000 in direct donations to Snider Hockey, toward a pledge of $2,000,000 in direct donations as the Alumni's way of saying thank you to Ed Snider for all he did for the players and their families. Soon, the Alumni will formally launch a new major program initiative geared toward service to fellow Flyers Alumni and to Flyers Warriors in need. Marsh, who is the Flyers Executive Director of Community and Fan Development, also serves as the president of the Flyers Alumni Association. Kelly, the Flyers Director of Community Development, is also among the Flyers Alumni Association Board members.