Lacrosse players of all ages are in Elkridge trying to raise money to help local veterans.
They are playing for 24 hours as part of Shootout for Soldiers at Troy Park in Howard County. This 24 lacrosse event is not a tournament, but it’s about one thing and one thing only, raising money to help our local vets.
The event started in 2012 in Baltimore and has since spread to other cities like Seattle and Los Angeles. In the last 6 years, they have raised around $2.5 million for veterans in the area.
"We had watched a 60 minutes piece and we saw on the news that the unemployment, underemployment, homelessness, and all these issues facing the four million veterans who accepted the war on terror coming back," explained Tyler Steinhart, one of the founders of the event. "We said 'hey we want to do something about it', for us it was using lacrosse as a platform to do that."
Since that story inspired them, the group has held 32 events just like this, hoping to make a difference. Each Shootout for Soldiers has helped three local organizations for veterans, Baltimore Station, Catch a Lift Fund, and Vet Links.
As of early Thursday morning, Shootout for Soldiers has raised $100,000 of it’s $150,000 goal.
