COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Ohio State Buckeyes and the rest of the Big Ten will have a fall football season, afterall. But the decision, which was announced last week, doesn’t reverse course much for Ability Matters Ohio, according to CEO Krysten Butler.
“A lot of times, we pair with companies during the tailgating season, and there’s contributions. Of course there’s a lot of planning that goes into that, so keeping the season, being a lot shorter than it is, it’s going to be very difficult to probably pull some of those things together at the last minute,” said Butler.
Her organization provides programs and services for those with neurological disabilities while Beyond Ability Matters, or B.A.M, is the nonprofit that helps with funding – something that’s been down during the pandemic.
“That time of year when it hit in the middle of March until to date was a really instrumental time for us to raise money.”
And football season is too. So now that there are limitations, they will lose even more money. But former OSU basketball player and now board member of Beyond Ability Matters JJ Sullinger says his organization isn’t the only one.
“I think everyone is affected — either directly or indirectly. Just because we don’t have a play or a big sign in the stadium for people to see things such as fundraisers and we do tailgates and things like that so that was going to be affected,” said Sullinger.
And though times are hard right now across the Columbus area and entire country, Sullinger says there are still ways to support nonprofits.
“During this pandemic, during this time when money might be tight ,you can still share. I think the more we talk about what B.A.M. is about and the more people we touch, we can raise money that way.”
