Championship ring to help save children

Former NFL player Je’Rod Cherry is raffling his SuperBowl championship ring in hopes of helping children.

Cherry, who played for New England, Philadelphia and New Orleans in a nine-year NFL career, is raffling his 2001 Patriots Super Bowl ring on Nov. 27 to raise money for children’s charities around the world. “I was moved by some pictures I saw of a child in Africa on his deathbed, and in the background waiting was a vulture, in essence, to consume him,” said Cherry, who lives in Ohio now. “What I saw there moved me to say, ‘What can I do to make a difference?’ What can I give sacrificially from myself to show I do have care and concern about this child’s predicament as well as other organizations that help people across the world?”

Cherry says he cherishes the ring, and played football 21 years to get to the pinnacle of the profession. “But using this ring to help children who are starving … and who have no hope will be a greater feeling than what I felt the day I actually won the ring.”

He’s raffling the ring instead of auctioning it so all fans would have a chance to win it, not just the richest ones. Five tickets cost $10, and can be purchased at netraffle.org. Deadline for purchase is Nov. 27 at 9 a.m.

“After the decision to do the raffle was made,” Cherry told me Saturday, “I said, ‘Wow. I’m actually going to relinquish this ring.’ It’s not going to be easy. Before that season, I’d played football all my life, but I never won a championship. My high school team won one league game in Berkeley [Calif.]. I went to Cal. I started my career with the Saints, and we never won there.”

He got to the Patriots with the middle-class free-agency class of 2001, and as I reminded Cherry, that first Super Bowl team was a bunch of Je’Rod Cherries. It’s fitting he won the ring with a bunch of blue-collar players like him.

Cherry’s disappointed with the raffle kitty so far — it’s approaching $75,000 — but he hopes even if the proceeds aren’t what he hopes for, “I may spur someone who hears about this or reads about a person giving up such a prized possession to do something for others.”

Purchase your raffle tickets at Netraffle.org (here)

Created by Jostens, the 14-karat white gold Super Bowl ring worn by the Super Bowl XXXVI champions, the New England Patriots, features 142 diamonds. Forty-two diamonds encircle the bezel, which is the edge of the ring’s face, and two larger football-shaped diamonds are on each side of the bezel. The face of the ring displays the Patriots logo made from red garnets and blue sapphires trimmed with diamonds. A figure of the Lombardi trophy is behind the logo and is made of platinum, a large marquis diamond, and two tapered baguette diamonds.)

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From: SI.com (Peter King), Youtube, Netraffle.org

Ueberroth’s recognized with Award of Excellence

Ronald McDonald House Charities hosted its 24th Annual Awards of Excellence celebration on Saturday, November 1 in Rosemont, Ill. to recognize individuals who have made outstanding contributions to improve the lives of children.

The annual event presented three prestigious awards to individuals selected from across the globe, including:

• Peter & Virginia Ueberroth, founders of the Ueberroth Family Foundation, honored with the RMHC Award of Excellence for their commitment to assisting local community-based groups and programs that promote social change.
• Dr. Catherine D. DeAngelis, editor-in-chief of The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, honored with the RMHC Medical Award of Excellence for her contributions in the areas of pediatric medicine and medical education.
• Lionel Whitehead, McDonald’s owner/operator and dedicated philanthropist, honored with the Gerry Newman McTLC Award of Excellence for his legacy of leadership and commitment to RMHC that led to the establishment of the first Ronald McDonald House(R) in New Zealand.

“We are honored to recognize these extraordinary individuals for their ongoing contributions to improving the lives of children everywhere,” said Marty Coyne, president and CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities. “Children around the world would not have a chance at a better life if it weren’t for the dedication and commitment of people like the Ueberroths, Dr. DeAngelis and Lionel Whitehead.”

An Evening of Celebration

As part of their recognition, Peter and Virginia Ueberroth and Dr. Catherine D. DeAngelis were each awarded a $100,000 grant that will be donated to The Ueberroth Foundation and the Child Life Program at John Hopkins Children’s Center, respectively. Lionel Whitehead received a $50,000 grant that will be given to RMHC New Zealand.

In addition to honoring the four remarkable individuals, the 2008 Awards of Excellence celebration included dinner, entertainment by Grammy award winning artist Richard Marx and country music star Kenny Rogers and a live auction that took place throughout the evening. Attendees had the opportunity to bid on exclusive prizes, including two first-class round trip airline tickets anywhere in the U.S. from United Airlines; round-trip airline tickets and a six-night hotel stay in London; two tickets to the 2009 Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla. and a VIP weekend getaway to Las Vegas, including airfare and hotel stay at Mandalay Bay Casino.

Past RMHC Awards of Excellence Recipients
Past RMHC Awards of Excellence Recipients have included: actress and national outreach director for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Marlo Thomas (2007); NCAA championship basketball coach and youth mentor John Wooden (2006); the late actor Paul Newman on the behalf of the Association of Hole in the Wall Camps (2005); actor, director and humanitarian Danny Glover (2004); renowned pediatric surgeon Dr. Benjamin Carson (2003); Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan (2002); tennis star Andrea Jaeger (2001); performer and humanitarian Harry Belafonte (2000); Joan Kroc, wife of McDonald’s Corporation founder Ray A. Kroc (1999); former First Lady Betty Ford (1998); Retired U.S. Army General Colin Powell (1997); acclaimed theologian Henri J. M. Nouwen (1996); former U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Antonia Novello (1995); former First Lady Barbara Bush (1994); the late Fred Rogers (1993); children’s health and disability advocate Eunice Kennedy Shriver (1992); former U.S. President Jimmy Carter (1991); and “The Muppets” creator Jim Henson (1990), among others.