Patrick McGuire
As we all know, professional athletes make more money than any one of us can imagine. Some athletes find ways to spend their money, most of the time on things they don’t need and often find themselves in financial or personal trouble because of it. However, some athletes spend their money in efforts to help others and those in need.
Over the next few weeks, I will be focusing on particular athletes and/or organizations and charities sponsored by athletes that aid in efforts to help those that are less fortunate. A lot of these charitable acts by high-profile athletes are not well promoted by the media, but appreciated by so many. It’s important to let people know exactly what some of these athletes do to help their respective communities and charities. I hope to enlighten some skeptical minds and give people a new appreciation of some of these high-profile athletes and the influences they are to the others.
As the Super Bowl approaches, the battle of community-serving quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, will be spotlighted on the athletic achievements of these men – but there is much more to them than that. There is a difference between being a giving man and a QB, compared to just being a QB. These men take the image that they have developed for themselves on the field with them off the field in their daily lives.
Peyton Manning’s charity organization, the “PeyBack Foundation” focuses on helping disadvantaged children in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Indiana. Peyton works with many charitable organizations and causes such as: NFL Play 60, visiting children’s hospitals, hurricane Katrina relief efforts, contributing to the Haiti relief fund and donating millions of dollars to high school athletic funds as well as his Alma Mater, University of Tennessee.
The main event from this foundation happens every year, the “PeyBack Bowl.” In 2008, this charity event raised over $380,000 to help children at risk. In 2009, this same event raised $335,000.
However, his foundation does much more than just the annual “PeyBack Bowl”. During this past holiday season, his foundation helped feed 800 needy families. Also, along with the Indianapolis Children’s Museum, the foundation hosted the annual “PeyBack Holiday” Celebration. The evening began with nearly 1000 guests from 28 local agencies for a fun evening with lots of excitement. The Children were allowed to explore the museum, get their photo taken with Santa, eat dinner, and spend a little quality time with Peyton free of charge.
Children in attendance received special gifts from the foundation, including a copy of his co-authored book, and a meet-and-greet with Peyton himself. Peyton Manning is cherished and appreciated by those in Indianapolis so much that the local hospital re-named it the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent in 2007.
The world might view Manning as a four-time MVP quarterback on the field and leave it at that, or those un-interested in football may see him as a spokesperson for Sprint, Sony, Mastercard, Gatorade, and DirectTV. However, he’s more famous for his work off the field and the everlasting definition of a man. The “PeyBack Foundation” that he began as a rookie has raised nearly $4 million for disadvantaged children. Just a note of appreciation that Colts fans have for Manning is a quote from Bill Benner, the Director of Communications for the Indianapolis Convention and Visitors Association: “His presence elevated the franchise from a run-of-the-mill bunch to one of the elite teams in the NFL. They went from an easy ticket to a 20,000 waiting list and made the idea of new stadium more palatable to the public. And winning the Super Bowl and what that has done for this city is immeasurable, I think it’s possible that we wouldn’t have the Colts and Lucas Oil Stadium without Peyton Manning”.
Drew Brees means just as much to New Orleans as Peyton Manning does to Indianapolis. Since his introduction into the NFL, he has developed his organization, which is titled “The BreesDream Foundation.” His foundation has helped raise over $4.5 million in efforts to help organizations become more successful.
Brees has helped organizations such as The Amazing Race, Rebuilding Through Brotherhood, PALS, United States Military, OMNI Bank Making the Grade, QB Club, Celebrity Championship, The Tradition, NFL Play 60, Catch Dat Brees, Rebuilding Dreams Campaign, Danneel Park Renovation and George Washington Carver High School. The mission statement of his foundation encompasses what his foundation is all about: “advancing research in the fight against cancer and providing care, education and opportunities for children in need”.
Brees always mentions there is a difference in telling and doing, which was his main focus on developing the foundation “Operation Kids: Rebuilding Dreams.” Through this charity effort he has been able to build new parks, football stadiums for schools, sponsor uniforms, just because he cares and understands how much people appreciate it.
Hurricane Katrina was devastating to New Orleans and without efforts such as his, New Orleans would be a lot worse. Brees said, “To put yourself on the line and say you’re going to raise $1.8 million, that’s kind of a gutsy deal especially when, I think, there had been a lot of broken promises down there”.
Both quarterbacks have done an outstanding job for charity work and representing their cities and the NFL with pride, on and off the field. I suspect that most people that are not from their respective cities are ill-informed of what they do off the field to help others. It is important to let this information be known to the public so the persona of professional athletes receives a better reputation. A lot of professional athletes do this, but the media seems to want to hide the good things that occur off the field. I hope by reading this, knowledge and appreciation is spread about these two men, which will un-doubtedly make HOF talk for their play on the field as well.
February 2nd, 2010 at 2:25 am
I like your subject matter!
Do you have links to the players foundation sites?
February 2nd, 2010 at 11:10 am
If I knew how I would. Thanks though.
February 18th, 2010 at 1:22 am
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