Ladue’s Powderpuff participants huddle together for a group picture. (Photo courtesy of Madison Grady)

Powderpuff was held at the Fifth Grade Center Dec. 7 from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Ladue High School’s Hunger Outreach Project (HOP) organization planned Powderpuff to fundraise for the Jewish Food Pantry.

Powderpuff is an annual flag football game, and all Ladue juniors and seniors can sign up. There were also some Ladue football players who helped to coach the girls how to play flag football. The game requires audience members to donate cans if they want to see the event. HOP has not yet counted up the total number of cans and amount of money donated.

“The whole purpose of Powderpuff is to raise cans and money for the Jewish food pantry,” senior Davina Lettau said. “The audience is supposed to bring cans if they plan to watch and a few days after the game, someone from the [HOP executive] board will go to the pantry and unload all of the cans.”

In order to sign up to participate in the game, there is a fee of 20 dollars, of which 15 dollars goes towards a Powderpuff shirt, and 5 dollars goes towards the Jewish Food Pantry. Even with the fee, a total of 87 girls signed up for the event this year. Along with Ladue, other schools in the U.S. and Canada have Powderpuff games as well to gain donations that typically go to a charity, the senior class, or a dance. for Junior Madison Grady believes that Powderpuff was an enjoyable experience.

“[Powderpuff is] a fun way to learn about [flag] football and is a friendly competition amongst the juniors and seniors,” Grady said.