ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Saint Louis FC’s season didn’t end the way the club or its fans had hoped, outside the USL Championship Playoffs by a point after a late-season fade that saw it overtaken by the Charleston Battery and Birmingham Legion FC in the Eastern Conference.

Away from the field, though, the club’s supporters group the St. Louligans wrapped up the year with a big victory for their local community.

The group’s Charity du Jour fund raised a remarkable $41,142 in the 2019 season, with pregame donations and raffles at West Community Stadium, contributions from STLFC ownership including Jim Kavanaugh and Tom Strunk, and events and donations by sponsors including Schafly Brewing, Sugarfire 44, Llewellyn’s and Wild Sun Brewing making it the biggest year so far in the program’s history.

In addition to topping $40,000 for the first time in a season, the St. Louligans have now raised more than $115,000 over the past five years to give to local causes.

“To see how far we’ve come in a few years is truly amazing,” the group wrote on its website. “Essentially it all started with putting a bucket out at the tailgate parties and asking for a few bucks to donate to a few local charities. A couple hundred bucks led to a couple thousand led to tens of thousands and now over $100 grand.

“This is SiLLy! in the best possible way. So many people have benefitted from your generosity. Every thank you note we receive from a charity inspires us to do more. It keeps getting bigger. Who knows how far it will go in the next several years, but a friend of ours likes to say we’re gonna do #BigThings.”

For more on the Charity du Jour program, visit the St. Louligans’ website.