Along with the spirit squads and football team playing on the field, promotions such as “Our Mom of the Game” can further engage fans.

The university started a new promotion this football season by choosing an “Our Mom of the Game” sponsored by Our Mom’s Restaurant and Bar.

Accountant Executive for Peak Sports Management Addison Martinez shared how the “Our Mom of the Game” came to be.

“Our Mom’s Restaurant and Bar became a partner of Southeastern Louisiana University Athletics to become a stronger community partner of Hammond,” said Martinez. “So together, we came up with the idea of rewarding our moms of the community.”

The recently started promotion comes with a few perks for each winner.

“The winner receives a goody bag from Our Mom’s with over a $200 value,” said Martinez. “Another thing they get is recognition on the scoreboard at the football games. They receive tickets and are recognized as honored guests.”

According to Martinez, the campaign has multiple purposes.

“Using the play on words of the restaurant’s name, we came up with ‘Our Mom of the Game,’” said Martinez. “We did this in order to engage fans into the football game a little more. One of the main reasons is for the pure entertainment during the game. We also do it to get exposure for Our Mom’s Restaurant and Bar and to highlight some spectacular Lion family moms. Our Mom’s goal with this was to shine some light on those standout moms and remind people to be grateful for the moms in their life.”

Martinez talked about the feedback the university has received since the start of the promotion.

“The fans have given us great feedback so far,” said Martinez. “They love the uniqueness about the award given to the ‘Mom of the Game.’ We have had countless amount of people nominating their mothers to win and be noticed on the scoreboard. We hope to continue the promotion to next football season and hopefully many more seasons after that. We love making these moms feel like superstars by presenting them on the scoreboard.”

Co-owner of Our Mom’s J.P. Ngo explained why Our Mom’s sponsored the promotion.

“The sole purpose was to recognize our great moms in the community,” said Ngo.”We love our community, particularly Southeastern, and embrace opportunities to be actively involved. For us, this means not only supporting Southeastern athletics, but also showing our gratitude and support to the mothers in our community who truly exemplify university and hometown pride.”

Ngo discussed the future of the award.

“We really liked what we started here at the Southeastern football games,” said Ngo. “We hope to continue the ‘Our Mom of the Game’ into the future and hopefully make this a tradition for years to come. We would love for it to keep going in the future.”

The winners of the inaugural year are: Julia Naquin, a mother of three and grandmother of seven, April Kemp, a mother and a wife who is working on her doctorate with hopes to graduate in 2020, Kim Diggs, a mother of seven who enjoys to paint, Shannon Lewis, a mother of eight children and a retired US army spouse and Barbara Johnson, daughter of Shelby Johnson.

Kemp shared her thoughts on receiving the award.

“It felt great to be recognized as one of the ‘Our Moms of the Game’ recipients,” said Kemp. “Our Mom’s gave me two tickets to the football game, a bag with goodies including a gift card, wine glass and a T-shirt. I did not expect to be chosen. My husband nominated me, which was a very sweet gesture.”

The form for nominating “Our Mom of the Game” can be found on Our Mom’s website. With the football season closing, fans can look out for the promotion next year.