2016 ‘WINTER CLASSIC’ TO BENEFIT AIDS ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

25th Annual Softball Tournament Features LGBT Players, is Free to the Public

January 5, 2015

AIDS Assistance Program – Food Samaritans (AAP), in cooperation with the City of Palm Springs and the Palm Springs Gay Softball League, announces the 25th Annual Palm Springs Winter Classic Softball Tournament will take place February 12-14, 2016. The teams participating in the tournament, which benefits AAP, are members of the North American Gay Amateur Athletic Alliance (NAGAAA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting amateur athletics for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community.

Registration and a public opening reception will take place on Friday, February 12, 2016 from 7-10 pm at Hunter’s Nightclub, 302 East Arenas Road in Palm Springs. Throughout the weekend, teams will compete on several fields, including Demuth Park in Palm Springs and the Big League Dreams Sports Field in Cathedral City. All games are free to the public. Competition is open to a maximum of 80 teams in various divisions of play, and the tournament schedule will be posted at pswinterclassic.com after January 25, 2016.

“This is a fun event for players and spectators, and the fact that it benefits AIDS Assistance Program makes it that much more rewarding for us,” says Vicki Oltean, Tournament Director. “We hope the public comes out to the opening reception at Hunter’s on Friday night to meet the athletes, buy souvenir shirts and support this 25-year tradition of softball in the desert.”

The ‘Winter Classic’ was established in 1991 as a fundraising event to help offset out-of-town tournament travel expenses for the Desert Heat Softball team members. Local host hotels have also agreed to donate 10% of that weekend’s proceeds to AAP. For more information, visit pswinterclassic.com or call 760-323-8277.

Since its founding in 1991, AIDS Assistance Program – Food Samaritans remains dedicated to providing nutritional support to improve the quality of the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS, and will expand its mission in 2016 to include other chronic illnesses. Initiated by a small group of concerned citizens led by the late Gloria Greene and Jeannette Rockefeller, AAP provides food vouchers to members of the community with low incomes. For more information, please call 760/325-8481.