Each year during the first weekend in August, businesses, residents and friends from Cranberry and surrounding areas come together as part of The Cranberry Cup to raise money for a local family in need.
The Cranberry Cup is most known for its charity softball tournament but the weekend of events begins with a golf outing at Cranberry Highlands on Friday, a 5k takes place in the morning on Saturday, and the softball tournament lasts all day Saturday and Sunday. The event utilizes all of the fields in Cranberry including its three parks— Graham Park, Cranberry Park and North Boundary Park. There is an opening ceremony at 10 a. m. on Saturday morning that all participants must attend, and the beneficiary family is recognized— usually arriving on a fire truck or by helicopter to make it special for them.
Each year, a different local family is picked to be the beneficiary family of the tournament— meaning the money raised from the year’ s Cranberry Cup will be raised for them.“ The opening ceremony is always very special,” says Ryan Maurer, who has been involved with the tournament for many years, and now heads his own team.“ Everyone is in one place cheering on the beneficiary family, and everyone has the opportunity to listen as the family talks about their lives and what they’ ve been through.”
There are two divisions to the tournament— a neighborhood division and an open division. The neighborhood division is required to be comprised of neighborhoods inside Cranberry Township.“ A lot of the neighborhoods are the same every year, with different ones floating in and out depending on numbers,” explains Maurer.
The open division is for everyone else— from businesses to old neighbors or a group of people just looking to play softball.“ This past year we had a neighborhood in the open division from outside of Cranberry Township, so our program is definitely growing,” he notes.“ Between the option of playing in this division combined with the 5k and golf outing, anyone can be involved in the weekend in many different ways. There are some people who do all three events every year!”
Participation cost is an entrance fee of $ 500 per team, with a $ 25 per player cost to participate. The $ 500 is in the form of raffle tickets that teams can sell to raise awareness of the event. Maurer says that $ 500 is a minimum and every team exceeds that.“ Collecting donations is a big deal because the team that raises the most money can pick their schedule for the preliminary games of the tournament.”
To play in The Cranberry Cup, one has to be 18 or older.“ As a kid, I always watched my dad play every year and couldn’ t wait to play,” recalls Maurer.“ By the time I was 18, interest in my neighborhood was lost, but I really believe in this cause, so I gathered everyone together and created the team again.”
Though the softball tournament is the largest event, The Cranberry Cup is not just a one-weekend activity. A board of dedicated members volunteer their time year-round to raise money to help families in need throughout the community.
“ The Cranberry Cup keeps me connected with the community and my neighbors,” Maurer says.“ Everyone lives busy lives and it’ s great for everyone in the community to kind of drop what they are doing for a weekend and come together.”
There are three different ways to become part of The Cranberry Cup— donations, sponsorship and / or volunteering. There’ s a link available on the event’ s website with donation opportunities year round. Additionally, there are many sponsors that donate money for the family, scholarships or even prizes.
The last, and perhaps most important, way to help is through volunteering.“ This event wouldn’ t happen without it,” notes Maurer,“ Everyone from the board who organizes it, to the team reps, the umpires, the concession stand workers... all of these people donate their own time and love doing it because of what it gives back to the community.
“ The Cranberry Cup is important to me and to the community for many reasons. The event helps a local family who needs it. Whether they had someone in a car accident, a child who needs additional help, whatever the reason may be— they were nominated for a reason and need help. As a community, I feel like we accomplish that and much more.”
Visit cranberrycup. org for more information. n
Spring Meadows Team
Pictured( l to r): Matt Jones, Evan Maurer, Corey Moniot, Shane Moniot, Ryan Maurer, and Travis Moniot
CRANBERRY ❘ FALL 2018 21