Team for Tomorrow

I have always been impressed by Olympic Athletes’ desire to be involved on an altruistic level. I have written several posts on this site about just that. Maybe it’s just me but Olympians seem to be filled with a passion not just for their sport but for the world around them. It’s very raw and perhaps that is what attracts us to the Games, they’re real. There is no catch, no selling out, just passion.

The Team For Tomorrow Fund is an opportunity created by the USOC to allow just that, an opportunity for Olympians to give back. Below is their description of the Team For Tomorrow Fund:

Welcome to the Team For Tomorrow Fund webpage.

Team for Tomorrow is a humanitarian relief fund that allows Olympic and Paralympic athletes the opportunity to give back to local communities and people in need throughout the world. Launched in July 2008 in partnership with the 2008 U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Teams, the fund’s initial causes are earthquake relief assistance and Habitat for Humanity (see below and at left). The fund will continue on with future classes of Olympians and Paralympians, and will consist of donations, volunteerism, disaster services, advocacy and other relief contributions.

Today’s athletes have expressed a profound interest in humanitarianism, and in social and civic responsibility. They’re looking for ways to make a difference in the world and to gain an even deeper meaning out of representing the United States as an Olympic or Paralympic athlete. Team for Tomorrow offers a vehicle through which to channel our efforts, and to unite the U.S. Team around one extremely worthy cause.

Click HERE to check out their list of athlete ambassadors.

Click HERE to check our their website.

The Wassner Twins and Team FIGHT

This is a great example of a way to use athletics to give back. There are many organizations that now have their own “teams”. The most popular/well known team is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s “Team in Training“.

The Ulman Cancer Fund was started by a good friend of mine and 3 time cancer survivor, Doug Ulman. Doug is also the President of the Lance Armstrong Foundation. The UCF’s mission is to enhance lives by supporting, educating and connecting young adults, and their loved ones, affected by cancer. One of the ways people can support their mission is by joining TEAM FIGHT. By doing so, you are committing to race for the Ulman Cancer Fund and proudly wear their uniform.

Two such athletes include the incredible Wassner twins. These young triathletes have made a mark in the sporting world by placing in some of the country’s more prestigious events. On top of all this, Laurel is a YA Survivor of Hodgkins Lymphoma. The twins will be competing for Team FIGHT at the Columbia Triathlon, Iron Girl Columbia and Eagleman Triathlon. Please watch them, cheer them on or better yet, JOIN THEM!

I would love to end this with a quote from Laurel on their website that provides a perspective on life and sport that we could all learn from. “Each time I get to a starting line, I realize that I am different. I am stronger and tougher for what I have gone through, and I am extremely lucky. If you have seen me race, and as you can see in the photos, I always have a smile on my face and raise my arms in victory at the finish line–even if I don’t come in first. Every finish is a victory to me!”

US Triathletes for a cause

I just came across this article. The first thing you will notice is that it WAS a time sensitive article and IS old. Yup, that’s how I do things. Everyone talks about things when they first hit the public. It’s way harder to wait 10 months.

Regardless of when it was written, the concept is timeless as are the causes. The article focuses on 4 Olympic Triathletes Hunter Kemper, Matt Reed, Sarah Haskins and Jarrod Shoemaker. It focuses less on their journey to Beijing and more on the causes they will be supporting and why.

I love that it talks about WHY they support those causes and HOW you can give back to them. The causes are each very unique and worth checking out.

Please check out the article and more importantly the causes by clicking HERE

Homeless World Cup

Let me start by saying THANK YOU to everyone who sends ideas along for posts.  A good friend of mine suggested AG cover this cause and I couldn’t be happier to do so. 

The organization is called the “Homeless World Cup”.  It was founded by two journalists, one from Scotland and one from Austria in 2001 with the goal of ending homelessness around the world.  Here is what they have to say about their organization:

There are one billion homeless people living in our world today.

The Homeless World Cup exists to end this, so we all have a home, a basic human need.

The Homeless World Cup is an annual, international football tournament, uniting teams of people who are homeless and excluded to take a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country and change their lives forever. It has triggered and supports grass roots football projects in over 60 nations working with over 25,000 homeless and excluded people throughout the year.

There is a documentary  called “Kicking It” which chronicles teams playing in the cup.

Also, check out this recent article in the NY Times- http://goal.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/21/48-nations-in-2009-homeless-world-cup/

Their website is www.homelessworldcup.org

Active Angels

Here is a person who raises the bar for humanity.  When he was 26, Jonny Imerman was diagnosed with testicular cancer.  During his fight, he had a lot of support from family and friends but never connected with someone his own age who had gone through what he was going through.  That’s what motivated him to create Imerman’s Angels so that others would have the support he didn’t.

“Imerman Angels connects a person fighting cancer today (”cancer fighter”) with someone who has beaten the same type of cancer (”cancer survivor”).”  A program like this is VERY needed for young adults with cancer.  

Imerman’s Angels is a 501(c)3 and donations go a very long way to help them provide their services.  They have created an amazing outlet for athletes to give back to their cause.  It’s called Imerman’s Active and it’s a group dedicated to individuals who want to participate in any of the athletic events in support of Imerman Angels. The 2009 line up includes: the Austin Half Marathon, Bank of America Shamrock Shuffle, Bank of America Chicago Marathon and the LIVESTRONG Challenge.

Imerman Active Team Training is an endurance training program that trains participants to complete marathons. Imerman Active participants raise money to benefit 1-on-1 Cancer Support through Imerman Angels. In exchange for their fundraising efforts, team members receive professional training by experienced coaches, monthly team parties, race day events, pre-race pasta party and a post race victory party AND the knowledge that all money raised will help provide cancers fighters with 1-on-1 support.

To learn more about Imerman Angels and Imerman Active, please check out their website at www.imermanangels.org

His war continues

A close friend of mine, Nick Raitt aka Nickname, has been in a war with cancer for 2 years now. I met Nick at a First Descents kayak camp in Montana with First Descents.
He’s an amazing all around athlete and for years had used sports to raise money for causes. He’s the ultimate giving athlete. Last year he held a local soft ball tournament that riased 5k which he split between First Descents and his local treatment center.

Recently he joined Team Beyond Cancer as one of their athletes with a goal of raising 20k for young adult cancer survivors to attend First Descents.

Nick received news that his cancer is back and on April 15, he will begin his battle with cancer again. Please follow him on his blog http://www.nick-raitt.blogspot.com/ and support his efforts. We could all learn a lot from Nick.

MVK

I went to lunch the other day with a friend who worked as the interim ED for Most Valuable Kids. She was telling me about the foundation and how some friends of hers started it after attending several professional sporting events and seeing so many empty seats. They were determined to give those seats to deserving and underprivileged kids.

Now it is a national foundation serving thousands of kids and partnering with hundreds of athletes. The Capitals even have MVK night. Cool cause.

Get flocked

This is interesting. Recently a group of high school athletes started “flocking” (click here to read the article) people to raise money. This has the potential to back fire so be careful!

The basics: Buy as many of the MOST OBNOXIOUS cheap lawn ornaments you can get your hands on (they used pink flamingos) and then at night, put them up in someone’s yard. When they wake up, they have to pay to have them removed (yes, the money goes to charity) and they have to tell you who’s lawn to go to next. Obviously, the more obnoxious the object the better chance you have of making big money. I think a nativity scene made of blow up dolls would be your best bet for the big bucks.

The Ripple Effect…

When the Board of Directors of First Descents was tasked with figuring out what our “vision” or most far reaching success was through our programs, a lot of ideas were thrown out there. From curing cancer to changing the world, we all had very grand ideas of what our purpose as an organization is. It was then, amidst the think-tank chaos that our Vice Chair Rob Mitchell spoke up with some of the wisest words I have ever heard. He asked “Has any participant told us that we have changed their life?” The answer was of course, yes. He then asked, “Why look further?” His question was met with blank stares like a 3^rd grade math class after their teacher just explained multiplication tables for the first time. He kindly went on, “If you set out to make change and at the end of the day know that you changed one life, you have succeeded. There is no need to look any further. Just keep changing one life at a time.” It makes sense. If you can’t change one life, you can’t change 1,000. That is where the ripple effect begins and when it begins, there is little you can do to control or predict how far it will go.

A friend of mine recently posted a video (see below) that he made about four First Descents alum who are teaming up to compete in an adventure race (it will be a first time for all of them) to raise money for FD so that others may have the same life changing experience they had. The video he made brought proud tears to my eyes. I’ll be honest, I was sobbing like one might when watching Rudy for the first time. This video illustrates an outer ring of the ripple effect that I could never have predicted. These young adults were challenging themselves physically, as a team, because of their experience at FD. They didn’t know each other before attending, had never kayaked before, never done an adventure race…you get the idea. Over the course of one week, they faced a new challenge, created new bonds and took that message forward with them into their lives after FD.

After seeing the video, I proudly posted it on my Facebook “status”. Within minutes comments were pouring in about how inspirational it is. One message in particular demonstrated yet another ripple that I would have never guessed. Here it is,

“Hey Brad,

Just wanted to say thanks for everything you’re doing and for sharing tid bits of inspiration like that video today. I was in full self-pity mode trying to battle some personal daemons about my less than optimal personal health. I had actually just finished writing an email to a friend about how knowing that there are people out there who have made it through much worse doesn’t always help me to get things in perspective. Watching that video completely helped me to snap my head back on straight.

Seriously, thank you.

I’m still working to get to a point financially where I can do more. If you ever need any help in the Bay Area, I’m here.

I hope all is well with you and yours,

J.

Giving doesn’t have to be complicated, planned out or understood. Focus only on changing one life. Throw that one stone and the ripples will follow.