DOWNTOWN ST. LOUIS, MO ( KTVI-FOX2)—
St. Louis got a little payback Sunday for all the help given to Hurricane Katrina victims. Football fans from New Orleans swarmed the Edward Jones Dome for the Rams-Saints game. They helped those in need in St. Louis, by the "boot-full". The glut of fans coming in from the South helped the Heat Up St. Louis campaign inch closer to its goal of raising $20,000 to help people pay their utility bills this winter."The saints have come marching in," said volunteer, Rosann Shannon.
They marched right up to all those firefighters' boots, and all those volunteers' buckets, dropping dollars into them as they went into the game.
"We're trying our best," said one Saints fan who made the trip, acknowledging the help from St. Louis in New Orleans time of great need.
"We appreciate that," he said.
"You can tell the people who went through Katrina, because they really care about us," Shannon said.
Then, she exhorted Rams' fans to match the Saints' fans efforts.
"The New Orleans Saints fans are the ones who are filling our buckets, what's wrong with the Rams fans?" she smiled.
It got so bad with Saints fans out-donating Rams fans; we had to bring out the heavy hitters: Fox 2 News Anchor Mandy Murphy and her daughter, Natalie.
"Come on Rams fans!" Natalie cried.
It worked. Rams fans swarmed Mandy and Natalie, giving Heat Up St. Louis an extra surge toward it's goal and evening things up in terms of donations between Saints and Rams fans.
"People need a little help. I've got a little money in my pocket, so why not ?" said Rams fan, Randy Thompson.
St. Louis Fire Chief, Dennis Jenkerson, said Heat Up St. Louis had brought in $5 million in 10 years, helping 190,000 people with their utility bills, and preventing fires like the one in October, which forced dozens from their homes at the River Crest apartments at the St. Louis City / Shrewsbury municipal line, when residents tried stay warm, without turning on the furnace.
"It was an alternative heater that some blankets got tossed on and it ignited the blankets, and ended up gutting three apartments," Jenkerson said. "We've already had a couple of fire deaths this year, because of alternative heating sources...it's either pay the heat or buy food, normally they're buying the food, and what they're doing for heat is using alternative heating sources. That causes us fires."
At least in the "donation" game before the football game, both teams won.
