ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Supporters groups form a big part of the USL experience, lending their voices to create an impressive atmosphere that keeps other fans coming back for more. But beyond that those supporters groups also form an important part of their communities, an aspect of fandom that the St. Louligans, who can be found leading the charge every home game and regularly on the road for Saint Louis FC, take very seriously.

“When STLFC started, the owners Jim Kavanaugh and Tom Strunk stressed to the community that the club is about giving back,” said St. Louligans founding member Mitch Morice. “It's influenced us heavily; we already did a charity game on the first Saturday after New Year’s Eve for the Food Bank, where we played the STL chapter of American Outlaws. [St. Louligans founding member] Brad DeMunbrun came up with the idea of a ticket exchange at the merch table at STLFC games, where if you had an extra ticket you could drop it off. And if you needed a ticket, throw some money into the charity bucket. That money then went to the charity we picked; almost always a local charity or a national charity with local ties.”

That giving back has led to some incredible work from the group, which last year donated $21,144 to charity, bringing the total in three years of work to $44,275. While that's impressive, this year is going to be the group's biggest yet.

“The second year, we started planning out the charities for each home game, all with a personal tie to it,” said Morice. “Our good friend Casey Blick died of colorectal cancer; the first game we do for him and made an $1,800 donation in his name this year. It's always personal to us. Counting the team's donation, we're at just under $14,000 already this year.”