ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis Guns 'N Hoses Boxing Association announced a $500,000 donation to BackStoppers even though they were not able to hold the annual firefighters versus police officers boxing event.
The association presented BackStoppers with the $500,000 check on Friday. The money was raised by the event's corporate sponsors.
The Thanksgiving Eve tradition, also known as Budweiser Guns 'N Hoses, pits police officers and firefighters against each other in the boxing ring to raise money for The Backstoppers, an organization that supports the families of fallen and injured first responders.
Last year's event — which would have been the 34th year of the annual event — was scheduled for Nov. 25, but was called off due to a spike in local coronavirus cases. Organizers had hoped to reschedule it to February or March in hopes that the state of the pandemic would have improved by then, but it didn't come to fruition.
“The global pandemic has impacted life for everyone and has disrupted many public events but our commitment to support The BackStoppers remains,” David Stokes, president of the Guns ‘N Hoses Boxing Association, said in a press release. “We are fortunate that our generous sponsors maintained their sponsorship contributions, allowing us to make this donation, even though the 2020 Guns ‘N Hoses event was canceled.”
With the most recent donation, Guns 'N Hoses has now donated about $9 million for BackStoppers.
The 2019 Guns 'N Hoses event raised $900,000.
The 2021 event is scheduled for Nov. 24. Tickets will go on sale this fall.
