By Mynecia Steele

Troy University is launching a program to put season tickets in the hands of community heroes.

“We’re extremally excited to announce and launch the Community Heroes Ticket Campaign,” said Brent Jones, Troy University’s Deputy Director of Athletics for External Operations. “We feel that this will provide a great service to our local community, while allowing our fans to donate and give back to various charities and organizations, and building future Trojans.”

The Community Hero Tickets will be $48 each for fans to purchase not for themselves, but for community heroes such as teachers, emergency care, charity organizations and nurses.

Each ticket is a season pass, which includes six games. Donations are also accepted for the program. “When a person says ‘Hey, I want to donate $100,’ that takes care of two tickets,” Jones said.

Although the program officially launches on Monday, the public can already purchase tickets online at troytrojans.com/tickets.

“There is no limit on how many tickets a person can purchase,” Jones said. “In the past, we’ve had someone purchase 50.”

The program is currently targeted at the local area and surrounding county, but Jones said the department hopes to progressively make an impact in other states.

“It’s sort of sprung from something that we did this past year for our bowl game,” Jones said. “Our fans stepped up and purchased 2,000 of these tickets.”

The program was able to donate to the VA Hospital, the Children’s Hospital, local schools and the Boys and Girls Club in New Orleans.

Seeing the impact that they were able to make in a community of over a million people, they were inspired to do more in their own community, Jones said.

“We wanted to go from the school that beat LSU, to the school that gives back,” Jones said. “If we could make a difference there, imagine the difference we can make in our own community.”

Community Heroes Tickets was formerly known as the Hope program, but Jone said the hope with the new program is to broaden their impact and more clearly engage with specific groups in the area.

“Those are the ones we really want to be able to lift up and salute them for their hard work,” Jones said.

The program also aims to reach out to youth organizations like, the Boys and Girls Clubs, Special Olympics, Miracle League and hospital patients.

“But there’s also a chance for use to give back to the community to youth groups, under-served and under-privileged,” Jones said. “This is a way for us to brighten their day.”

Each of the tickets that are purchased will go back to the community, whether to police, fire, rescue, military, teachers, and youth.

“We will be reaching out to donors and local companies,” Jones said. “This will be a grassroots effort. We want to be able to impower our fans to make a difference in the lives of our community.”

At the final baseball game of the season, the athletic department hosted almost 2,000 Special Olympians, Jones said.

“That’s the kind of groups we want to be able to host. It was our highest-attended game of the season,” Jones said. “So to be able to do that on a continued basis in the fall, that’s what we want to be able to do.”

The university and athletic department want the community to truly engage with one another to uplift and honor those who are worthy.

“Troy Athletics, just like Troy University, we want to be good pillars and partners in the community,” Jones said. “The campaign will continue until the beginning of football season. There’s a short window and intense goals to engage the community and donors with the program.”