Snow's Good For This Cause: Manchester Police Officers Raise Funds For Special Olympics

(The Manchester Township Police Department’s Snow Bowl team poses with a Special Olympics athlete; proceeds from the tournament help fund training programs for the athletes who compete in the Special Olympic Games. Credit: Manchester Township Police Department)

While most of New Jersey was cursing the word “snow” as residents dealt with a first day of spring buried in the white stuff, at MetLife Stadium, dozens of football players, including some from Manchester Township, were celebrating the Snow.

Just over a year after it hosted the NFL’s biggest party, the Super Bowl, it was the Snow Bowl -- a different kind of bowl, but one just as important to the participants -- that took over the field. The bowl’s games are a fundraiser for the Special Olympics, and in the nine years of the Snow Bowl’s existence, more than $1.3 million has been raised.

But this isn’t the kind of football the stadium normally hosts. This was flag football, and the participants came from a variety of careers. Spanning three days, the 6-on-6 flag football tournament with light blocking had divisions for law enforcement/firefighters, recreation league teams, a competitive division, coed teams and 35 and over teams.

In the law enforcement division, members of the Manchester Township Police Department won two games and lost one while raising $2,230, with help from sponsor Thompson Chiropractic of Ocean County. Teams were required to raise a minimum contribution of $2,000 to participate.

On the field for Manchester were Officers Richard Mazza, Albert Vega, Douglas Higgins, Adam Emmons, Robert Maccaquano, David Fusaro, Christian Nazario, Patrick Cervenak, Jason Wiener, Joseph Fastige, Joseph Reilly, Michael Steffen, and team captain Kyle Rickvalsky.

This year’s event raised $440,000 for the Special Olympics, according to a news release from the Manchester Police Department. The success of this event directly helps more than 24,000 athletes train and compete free-of-charge, year-round, in 24 Olympic-type sports, according to the Special Olympics of New Jersey.