Over the past 3 years U.S. snowboarder Hannah Teter has partnered with World Vision to support a village in rural Kenya. By donating all her winnings from competitions and selling products like Hannah’s Gold syrup, and organic hemp wristbands, Teter has helped establish numerous initiatives in the village including education, HIV prevention/treatment, clean water, and sustainable farming.
After the earthquake in Haiti she has directed a large amount of funds to World Vision’s efforts there as well.
Congratulations to Drew Brees and the New Orleans Saints for their big win yesterday. To be honest, we were kind of torn on who to root for, since there are great players and stories on both sides, but for everything the city of New Orleans (and the whole Gulf Coast region for that matter) has been through since Katrina its good for them to have something to celebrate.
By the way, here’s a link to some of the things the Saints as an organization have been doing to help the community. Many players (including Peyton Manning, actually) have been involved on a personal level as well.
When former Titans quarterback Steve McNair was shot last July, Vince Young(the team’s current QB) promised to help be a father-figure for his two sons, Trenton and Tyler. Throughout the season Young invited the boys to join him at several games, and even attended a “Dear Dad’s Breakfast” at the boys’ school.
Young says the boys come hang out at his house often, and this past weekend he brought the brothers along to the Pro Bowl giving them the VIP treatment and taking them around with him everywhere he went. (Full story via the Tennessean)
Playing in honor of many of his family and friends in Haiti, Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Pierre Garcon came up huge with 11 receptions for 151 yards in yesterday’s AFC Championship victory over the New York Jets.
While Garcon is definitely excited about the win and the chance to play in the Super Bowl, he is also hoping his moment in the spotlight will help him raise funds for ongoing work in Haiti through his Helping Hands Foundation. Find out how you can get involved here.
Helping people and watching basketball are two of our favorite things, so you can imagine we are pretty big fans of the recently announced partnership between the NBA and the United Nations “Nothing But Nets Campaign”. According to their site, they will give out two complementary tickets ( ) for every $10 mosquito net purchase made.
The mosquito nets will be distributed to displaced families in Africa to help protect them from malaria. The goal is to get 160,000 nets by December 31st, so head over to the site and pick one up today.
If you liked Michael Oher’s story (The Blind Side) you should check out the tale of University of Cincinati football star Mardy Gilyard. Three years ago Gilyard was kicked off the team, had his scholarship revoked, lost his housing and actually owed the university $10,000. Rather than give up on his dream Gilyard stayed in Cincinati, working four jobs and volunteering at a local homeless shelter, he earned enough money to pay the school back and get a second chance to play football.
Now his team is one win away from a perfect season and NFL scouts are projecting him as a first round pick. Gilyard continues to work with “at-risk” teens and hopes his story will inspire them to keep pushing towards their dreams too.
On the way home from leading his team to a World Series victory Wednesday night, New York Yankees manager Joe Girardi, stopped to help a motorist who had lost control of their vehicle and crashed into a barrier. Girardi called 9-1-1 and then made his way across a busy highway to help the victim (who, thankfully, was not injured) and remained with her until the police arrived.
When asked about the incident Girardi said: “there’s a lot of joy in what we do, but we can’t forget to be human beings where we help others out…I think that’s the most important thing we can do in life.”
We’ve all heard the story of how a feud between brothers Rudolf and Adi Dassler led to the founding of rival sportswear companies Puma and Adidas, but did you know that ealier this week, the two companies ended their 60-year feud by coming together for a joint soccer match?
The match was part of the Sept. 21st celebration of an International Day of Peace(Peace One Day), and instead of playing against each other teams were made up of employees from both companies. Despite both being headquartered in the same small town all these years, thistwas the first time the companies had done a joint event.
Its often in the heat of the moment when our true colors show, and in this moment Steve Monforto showed how a good dad responds when your kid makes an innocent mistake.
While the competition is great, the best part is that throughout the 6-year history of the event nearly 75% of the players have used it as a springboard to improve their lives through education, jobs, and permanent housing.
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