Community Rallies Around Plantation Football Team

PLANTATION (CBS4) - It was nearly "game over" for the Plantation Wildcats after 50 of their helmets were snatched by thieves last week.

"They broke one of the windows," explained Wildcats' Commissioner Cathy Watts, "climbed over the shelves and knocked things down and climbed down and stole helmets."

Three-hundred and fifty kids play in the Plantation Athletic League. When they learned what happened, they took it pretty hard.

"The team wouldn't have anymore helmets, so we wouldn't get to play football anymore," worried eight-year-old player Jaiden Robertson.

"I was depressed," said 11-year-old Ryan Drag, "because a lot of kids want to play football and they need the right equipment to play."

That's when Plantation attorney Joe Lipsky and his buddies came to the rescue.

"I called a couple of my friends," said Lipsky, "I said, 'I know some kids who could use some help,' and they said, 'No problem, how much do you need?' and we wrote checks."

Local roofer George Shahin got the call; he figured he had to dig deep and help raise the $6,000 needed to replace the missing helmets.

"Give back," he said, "Just give back to the community. I'm sure at some point in their life they were helped by somebody, influenced by somebody. Just give back."

Players and their parents know without helmets, there's no game. And with no game, kids miss out on life lessons, bigger than football, that are learned on this field.

"Citizenship, honesty all the lessons of life that come through that sport come about as well," said parent Jay Drag. "So you get more than you pay for."

The team is still a little short. If you'd like to help out, you can go to their Facebook page to see what you can do by clicking here.