Westside Business Raises Funds to Help GR’s Union High School Football Team

Last Thursday, the folks at Bourbon Street on Alpine Ave. in Grand Rapids learned of a need and they and their customers came through in a big way to help local high school students.

As part of the GRSummerProject, the Union High School football team is working to be a bigger part of their community, and in return want to make the community a big part of what they do.

Last year, a photo of the stands at one of the team's away games went viral as it showed that very few fans were in the stands. After that, the community stepped up to support them and cheer them on.

When Paul DeBartolo, the owner of Bourbon Street heard about the football team, and the struggle that many of the players have getting to practice during the summer, he sprung into action. He put out a collection jar at the businesses and asked his patrons to do what they could to help out the team with the transportation costs. He also took to Facebook to ask folks to stop in and donate. By the end of the weekend, they had collected their goal of $500.