As you know, I spent 25 years of my life coaching college and professional football. In that time, I learned a lot about making a difference in the lives of young people.
I want to tell you about a program where coaches and their teams can help to make real difference to the lives of children with cancer. It’s called Coaches Curing Kids’ Cancer.
The idea is so simple. Instead of buying the coach a gift at the end of the season, we ask that your team make a donation to Coaches Curing Kids’ Cancer in honor of their coach. We’ll send the coach a T-shirt, a personalized certificate and a letter of acknowledgement. The best part is that the donations go to fund cutting-edge treatments for childhood cancer. Please check out the website at www.curingkidscancer.org.
I became the honorary chairman of this charity after hearing the founders – Clay and Grainne Owen – tell how they wanted to honor the life of their nine-year-old son Killian, who died of leukemia in 2003. As a coach -- and a grandfather - I can’t think of a better way to honor coaches and at the same time fund more effective treatments for childhood cancer.
I would like you to consider supporting this charity by introducing the idea to your teams. It is of course purely voluntary but it helps to reinforce the idea that a coach should be an inspiration and it also teaches the team that they can “pay it forward” on behalf of their coach to help other children.
We can provide materials to help promote the program in your leagues, including postcards to go into team parent packets, posters to put up by concession stands and banners that you can display at the fields. Or the team parent package can simply be downloaded from the website.
If you have any questions please call Coaches Curing Kids’ Cancer on 1-866-933-CURE (2873).
Dear Pop Warner Coaches,