It is that time of year again – the Lady Pies are showing our support for survivors of violence by punching 1,000 punches at the 2013 Punch-a-Thon to support the Center for Anti-violence Education. On Sunday, June 2nd, we will punch 1,000 punches to represent confidence and empowerment for survivors of violence. Every 100 punches will be dedicated to ending a different form of violence. Last year, the Lady Pies were the top fundraising team for the event, and we’re ready for a repeat.
Please support the Lady Pies team by donating to our team here. No donation is too small!
Like a walk-a-thon, you can sponsor a specific participant or our team to complete 1,000 punches.
- $25: covers the cost of childcare so that a parent can attend self-defense, healing, and empowerment workshops for survivors of violence.
- $50: provides a teen woman or trans youth one session in the after-school program Power, Action, Change for Teens.
- $100: enables a survivor of domestic violence to participate in self-defense classes
- $250: supports two violence prevention sessions for a homeless LGBTQ young person, which focus on safety planning and using your voice to advocate for yourself and others
- $500: provides a pre-teen girl with a 5-week course that helps her build self-respect and develop strategies to prevent bullying, relationship abuse, and sexual harassment
About CAE: For 38 years, The Center for Anti-violence Education has been teaching women, children, teens, and LGBT individuals verbal and physical strategies to protect themselves and break cycles of violence in their lives and communities. CAE has a bedrock commitment to serving low-income families and offer our violence-prevention courses on a sliding fee scale. Courses for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault are free of charge, and free childcare is available at all classes.
Click here to watch a video created by CAE’s youth.
Donations are tax-deductible and all proceeds go to support the valuable work that CAE is offering to the women of Brooklyn and beyond.
Click to Donate to the Lady Pies Team
With your generous donation, the Lady Pies will partner with the CAE to tackle violence once and for all!
Join the New York Magpies to kick off the 2013 season and celebrate Australia Day 2013! Head to Professor Thom’s in the East Village on Friday January 25th from 8p.m. dressed in your best green and gold outfits to show your Aussie pride. The Triple J Hottest 100 will be streaming live from Australia, Aussie sport will playing on the TVs, and Keith the Koala will most definitely be there.
Entry includes access to 3 hours of happy hour specials from 8 to 11 p.m. ($4 Bud Lights, $5 well drinks & $3 Kamikaze shots), $6 Coopers and Aussie wine until it runs dry, and an NY Magpies beer coozie. Help the New York Magpies kick off our 2013 season with a bang as we begin the road to the USAFL Nationals in Austin this October.
Win great prizes when you dress in green and gold, and purchase your tickets in advance at nyfooty.com to enter the door prize drawing. Group discounts are also available. You’d be a galah to miss it!
When: Friday, January 25 from 8 p.m. to 4 a.m.
Where: Professor Thom’s, 219 2nd Avenue NYC (between 13th st. & 14th st.) maps & directions
Tickets: $15 per ticket or 6 tickets for $80. Pre-purchase your tickets now!
Weeks after Sandy hit the East Coast, I stood in the thick of its wreckage in Belle Harbor, Queens. As the sun set, I quickly packed up the vans along with thirty other Magpies before nightfall to head back to the City. A tattooed man driving a Bobcat stopped in the debris-filled street, providing one of the only sources of light, and said to me, “Not just anybody comes out here to help.” For us, it was never a question. That’s what family does. One of our own – longtime Magpie Shane Batty – lives in Belle Harbor.
Amidst the half-dark New York City skyline, Sandy gusted in with winds over 85 miles an hour and hit the shoreline with a 13-foot storm surge – flooding streets, sidewalks, businesses, subways, tunnels, and homes. For some, Sandy came and went without much damage. Incredibly, many places in New York City remained untouched by the storm. Belle Harbor was not so lucky.
In one of the hardest hit areas in New York City, Belle Harbor, residents faced utter destruction from the storm. Fire hurled through the sky as flood water rushed in – filling basements and pouring in through doorways. Families were literally trapped between fire and water debating whether jumping into the six-foot rushing rapids or remaining in their homes would be the safest option. After the winds had calmed and the flood waters receded, Belle Harbor residents awoke to ruin.
Nearly two weeks after the storm, the Magpies packed vans full of shovels, cleaning supplies, food, water, and people in an
effort to clean up Belle Harbor. We joined throngs of cars, military vehicles, and dump trucks in the two-hour plus traffic jam out to the Rockaway Peninsula.
The images flashing on the news channels did not prepare us for what we would see as we crossed the Marine Parkway Bridge. Baby photos, books, wedding pictures, baseballs, an empty urn – once personal belongings entwined with memories, with joy, with sadness, now debris – were scattered on their lawns along with shards of glass and broken wood. Mounds of sand lined the streets. Houses and restaurants were burned to the ground. The van fell silent as we stared out of the windows in awe. We all sat there thinking, “Where do we start?”
The streets were filled with people – some with shovels, others with food. We joined the groups of residents and volunteers and started to remove the debris and sand from front and back yards using whatever we could find – wheelbarrows, buckets, trash cans, and even a sled. The families who had lost so much in the wake of the storm were happy to share their stories, and we were happy to listen. Even though the destruction that Sandy caused will remain for months, possibly years, we came together to do what we could. That is what our team is – we are more than just a collection of individuals, the Magpies are a family.
During these times of tragedy, we are more than just a collection of boroughs or neighborhoods. We unite as a city – as New York City – and work toward restoring our home. The work is hardly done in Belle Harbor nor in many other waterfront neighborhoods. But on this day as we said goodbye to Batty’s neighbors, whose yards were now clear of sand, we felt hopeful. Despite the destruction, these people’s resilience and optimism remain strong.
You can help the residents of Belle Harbor, Queens by donating to the Graybeards, a local nonprofit in Rockaway.
Written by Christina Licata
Photo Credit: Rob Donner & Arianne Keegan
After a successful 2011 debut in Division 3 the New York Magpies second’s team was confident of another good showing despite being undermanned. The team couldn’t get going against a strong Chicago Swans team that ended up winning the division before rebounding on Saturday afternoon to beat a persistent Florida Redbacks team. Sunday was another story again as the Sacramento Suns came out more motivated for the early game and built an insurmountable lead with the wind in the first half to take the victory.
New York Magpies v Chicago Swans
When New York and Chicago met in Chicago during the regular season it was the Magpies that walked away with the points but unfortunately the result was switched at Nationals as the Swans were the better team. Right from the outset of the game the Pies had no answer to Chicago’s strong half back line despite the best efforts of ruckman Adam Mantzaris and midfielders Glenn Ormsby, Richard Marian and Tom Burke. A couple of early goals by the Swans put the Magpies backline under pressure and it was only inaccurate kicking that prevented the Swans from having a lead greater than the 5 goal advantage that they held at half time.
Following a rev up from coach Todd Smith the Magpies came out more motivated in the second half with a couple of scoring opportunities initiated from the backline of Chris Norman, Jon Melo, Nick Kerr and Matt Barlaz going close to registering the Magpies first score of the day. Unfortunately Chicago responded with another couple of goals and despite some good link up work down the wing from Jeremy Spiteri, Burke and Marian the Pies couldn’t record more than a solitary point. When the whistle blew it was a big victory for the Swans, 6.12 48 to 0.1 1.
Best: Marian, Burke, Spataro
Coach Smith was rightfully disappointed with his charges who were outpointed by a better team in Chicago. ‘We just can’t allow teams to get off to the start that Chicago did and expect to stay in the game’ he said. ‘With only two 20 minute halves per game if you go down by two goals its just too hard to get back in the contest’.
New York Magpies v Florida Redbacks
After their disappointing result in the morning the Division 3 Magpies were keen to make amends against Florida and were not helped by a tournament ending injury to ruckman Mantzaris and the call-up of Jamie Spataro to the Division 1 team to replace the injured Glenn Caldwell. Luckily the Pies were able to call into service several players from Las Vegas and Nashville to make up the numbers and ensure a good contest.
The Magpies warmup was much more motivated and the positive attitude continued into the game as ruckman Adam Overall gave his midfielders first use and the Pies kicked the opening goal through some strong work from Marian. That goal was quickly followed by another to Rob Donner who boxed out his opponent before the Redbacks got on the score board with a goal of their own. Unlike the morning the Magpies remained committed and Myles Walkington, Troy Danilo and Ed McCormick got involved in possessions that saw Overall and Donner each add another goal. At halftime the Magpies had pulled ahead, leading 4.2 26 to 2.0 12.
Florida threw everything they had at the Magpies early in the second half and for a while the Magpies threatened to crack as the Redbacks added a goal and a couple of points. New York’s midfield lifted their work rate however and Ormsby added his first for the day before some good link up work saw the ball land in the safe hands of captain and centre half forward Brett Smiley who kicked truly to put the result beyond doubt. New York eventually ran out winners, 6.7 43 to Florida 3.4 22.
Goals: Donner 2, Marian 1, Overall 1, Ormsby 1, Smiley 1
Best: Burke, Overall, Donner
Captain Brett Smiley was impressed with his teammate’s endeavor to bounce back from the loss in the morning, and appreciative of the fill-ins from Vegas and Nashville saying ‘it really helped with a few extra players on the bench, and unlike the first game, we played the way we really knew how: a tough, committed, relentless and cohesive unit.’
New York Magpies v Sacramento Suns
The Division 3 team had the early start on Sunday morning and weren’t out of finals calculations but would need to beat their Sacramento opponents then rely on the Redbacks beating Chicago to make it. From the start of the game the Magpies were sluggish and the problems of the Saturday morning game returned, aided by the task of keeping the Suns from scoring with a very strong breeze. Before New York could blink the Suns had added 3 goals and the Pies hadn’t even looked like getting the ball into their forward half. With David Kyle and Kerr giving their all the Magpies gradually improved their standing but not before the Suns added another 2 goals to end the first half leading 5.1 31 to no score.
The Magpies huddle remained positive at half time however with the team confident it could reel in the Suns with some hard running and the aid of the breeze. Ormsby, Marian, Overall and the extra players from Las Vegas and Nashville led from the front and after a couple of off target shots the Magpies registered their first goal via Marian. However to their credit the Suns increased the pressure on the Magpies and limited their opponents to only a few more points for the half to record a 5.1 31 to 1.6 12 victory.
Goals: Marian 1
Best: Kyle, Marian, Ormsby
Goal scorer Marian was disappointed to end the tournament with only 1 win stating ‘we needed to put in better efforts right from the start of the games if we expected to record anymore victories. Ultimately we left it to too few players and that showed in the losses to Chicago and Sacramento’.
