I have covered the Philles ALS charity event many times.  But this year was much different.  In other years the event was a big autograph party on the concourse that raises a whole lot of money and that is pretty much how I shot it.  This year?  I went a little further into the story and saw a lot more of what it’s really about– the patients that suffer with this really horrible disease.  The Phillies invited the station to a special meet and greet in their media room.  The Phils came in uniform, the media came with our cameras and the ALS folks came in various stages of the disease.

The media room is often a “tough” room for the players and coaches, but it was tough in a different way on Phestival night.  To their credit, the Phils were really, really genuine in their interactions with the patients.  Real conversation, real emotion and real contact.  Some get like deer in headlines around people that are this sick– but this was totally not the case on Phestival night.

Here are some of my favorites from the night.

Here is the story and images I shot for WPHL-TV.