Nation Ford’s FBLA, FFA team up for Purple Out game against York Friday

A wave of purple is coming to a football game near you.

Football players will sport purple socks, cheerleaders will wear purple hair bows, fans will clad themselves in purple T-shirts and even the teams’ trainers will be outfitted with medical tape in a shade of – you guessed it – purple.

The Nation Ford High School chapters of the Future Business Leaders of America, led by Lynn Marsh, and the Future Farmers of America, led by Lee Petitgout, have teamed up to sponsor a Purple Out charity event in conjunction with the Oct. 16 NAFO Falcons varsity home game versus the York Comprehensive High Cougars.

Purple is the color of the March of Dimes, a national nonprofit that works to reduce the instance of birth defects and premature birth. The FBLA and the March of Dimes have been national partners for 45 years, and the FBLA raises over a half million dollars each year in fundraising efforts for the charity.

The FBLA chapter leaders had the idea to ask the FFA’s chapter leaders if they would like to partner with them to host the event.

“Organizations really need to be working together, not separate,” said FBLA Executive Officer Kyle McCarter. “We need to be one big Nation Ford family.”

“We loved the idea,” said FFA secretary McKenna Debus.

Money will be raised from T-shirt sales, a 50/50 raffle and $10 Blue Jeans for Babies tickets teachers can buy to wear jeans to school for a week.

The organizations’ leaders have even reached out to the York Comprehensive chapters to invite them to participate.

“Everyone’s going to be in purple,” said FFA Vice-President and Falcons lineman Jonathon Scott, “including the York fans.”

According to the March of Dimes, birth defects have been the leading cause of infant mortality in the U.S. for the past 20 years, accounting for 1 in 5 infant deaths. In an average week in South Carolina, 150 babies are born prematurely, and 106 babies are born with a low birth weight.

While the specific causes of preterm labor and delivery aren’t known, it is thought to be a combination of risk factors, the most common of which are a history of preterm birth, a multiples pregnancy and some uterine and/or cervical abnormalities.

There is still much to be learned about premature birth and birth defects, which is why more needs to be done, said FBLA Executive Officer Wes Altman.

“In the U.S., where we have a lot of other things cured, that’s not cured yet,” Altman said. “That’s a big issue that we need to solve.”

This story was originally published October 12, 2015 at 8:45 AM with the headline "Nation Ford’s FBLA, FFA team up for Purple Out game against York Friday."