NORTH American Soccer League (NASL) outfit Fort Lauderdale Strikers, the club of Reggae Boy Shavar Thomas, has made good on their promise to assist fund-raising efforts for Jamaica’s women’s football programme.

The south Florida-based club, as a first gesture, will allow the Florida-based Jamaica International Female Football Development (JIFFD) to host promotional activities surrounding their home game against Tampa Bay Rawdies on April 27, at Lockhart Stadium.

As part of the initiative, JIFFD will be allotted tickets for the match, of which 50 per cent of those sales will go to the foundation launched in February at an event at the Sheraton Suites in Plantation on February 15.

Also on board to assist with tickets sales for JIFFD is Jamaican food establishment Donna’s Restaurant. One Lucky purchaser who buys tickets for the game from a representative, or any JIFFD partner outlet, will win an airline ticket to Jamaica and VIP tickets to see the Reggae Boyz games against Mexico on June 4 and USA on June 7 at the National Stadium in Kingston.

President of JIFFD Lavern Deer, foresees reciprocal benefits for both working partners.

“This partnership is about diverse community building and fundraising, so together this partnership will allow us to tap into an already established fan base which does two primary things for JIFFD and the Reggae Girls. One, it allow us to build on the Reggae Girls awareness campaign and two, it puts us in a position to raise funds from their ticket sales.

“The partnership is also mutually beneficial as it allows the strikers to tap deeper into the Jamaican market for a wider fan base, having a Jamaican player on their roster from inception, first Lance Laing and now Shavar Thomas,” said Deer.

The JIFFD head said this month’s activities at Lockhart is the first, but there is the option to explore opportunities further.

“We have the option to do this at targeted games and with one of our own national players on their roster, we would want to show continued support for him and the club. However, from as early as April 27 we will have to assess how much of a benefit this partnership is to us then make a decision on the way forward,” said Deer, who was born in the tough inner-city community of Jones Town before migrating to the USA at nine-year-old.

Meanwhile, Shavar Thomas, a veteran of Jamaica and US Major League Soccer, said yesterday he was delighted that his current club Fort Lauderdale Strikers was willing to help out the struggling national women’s programme of Jamaica.

“Women’s football is evolving and getting better every day around the world, and to have the Strikers family help raise funds for this venture, going toward helping the Reggae Girls, is tremendous,” said the former Boyz captain.

Part of JIFFD’s wide-ranging mandate is to assist the national women’s football teams of Jamaica with international training camps annually, especially ahead of CONCACAF tournaments.

Meanwhile, Fort Lauderdale Strikers, which is South Florida’s only professional men’s soccer team, has been a part of the NASL since the 2011, though it has been a professional unit since 2005. The team is owned by Traffic Sports USA, the North American subsidiary of The Traffic Group, the leading soccer event management company in the Americas headquartered in Brazil.

Traffic Sports is committed to the advancement of soccer in South Florida at the youth, amateur and professional levels.