Michael Jordan becomes Chief Wish Ambassador

Michael Jordan, regarded as the greatest basketball player of all time and a successful business leader, now has a new title  – Chief Wish Ambassador for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Jordan was formally introduced in his new role by David Williams, Make-A-Wish Foundation of America president and chief executive officer, at the Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational golf tournament. The tournament continues through Sunday at Kerzner International’s Atlantis, Paradise Island resort and Ocean Club Golf Course in the Bahamas.

Jordan, who has granted more than 175 wishes during the past two decades, will serve as lead figure for the Foundation’s newly formed Wish Ambassador Council and as a national spokesman, assisting the Foundation’s efforts to increase wish-granting outreach.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation’s Wish Ambassador Council is composed of people who are passionate about the Foundation’s work, including the Make-A-Wish® founders, celebrities and national sports figures such as Jordan, former wish children, wish parents and Foundation supporters.

“An estimated 27,000 children are diagnosed with life-threatening medical conditions in the United States each year, and I’m eager to do what I can to help the Make-A-Wish Foundation reach out to even more of these courageous children,” Jordan said. “Granting children’s wishes through the Foundation has always been important to me. It’s a truly humbling, inspiring experience to see the smiles and joy that granting a wish brings to a child. I want to help even more children have that same opportunity.”

The Make-A-Wish Foundation has increased its number of wishes granted each year since 1985, including 13,425 in 2008, the most in its 28-year history. Yet that many more seriously ill children may be eligible for a wish from the Foundation, creating the opportunity to increase its outreach efforts.

“We are extremely honored for Michael Jordan to support the Make-A-Wish Foundation as our first Chief Wish Ambassador,” Williams said. “Michael is one of the Foundation’s most popular celebrity wish granters ever. He has a great appreciation and enthusiasm for our mission, and we’re delighted for him to help us reach out to even more children with life-threatening medical conditions.”

To celebrate the occasion, Jordan also granted the wish of 7-year-old Donovan Russell of Sacramento, Calif. Russell, along with his family, met his basketball idol in a private meeting Friday at Atlantis, Paradise Island, and he is enjoying a number of activities at the resort as part of his wish experience.

Also on Saturday, the Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational made a $150,000 contribution to the Make-A-Wish Foundation as one of the tournament’s charity beneficiaries. The eighth annual tournament will distribute more than $500,000 to selected charities this year.

“We appreciate the generosity of Michael, Kerzner International and everyone involved with the Michael Jordan Celebrity Invitational,” Williams said. “This wonderful contribution will help us grant the heartfelt wishes of dozens more children who truly deserve the hope, strength and joy that comes from a wish experience.”

Football and Autism

Meet Courtland Hale.  At the age of three he was diagnosed with Austism.  He did not let that hold him back from playing football.  Today he is a 6′4″, 270 lb high-school defensive tackle.

Cortland encourages special needs kids to get involved in sports and other activities as therapy.

Elementary students stock food bank shelves

Spencer Elementary students are giving back to the community in a big way this Thanksgiving weekend. We caught up with them doing their good deed and found out how they used their creativity to help the needy.

For weeks, Spencer Elementary students collected all cans.

With the help of some local architects, they used the cans to create a tugboat and their masterpiece was on display at the Jepson Center for about a month.

But this week the students dismantled the boat and donated all the canned goods to the Second Harvest Food Bank.

Students like Janiah Sam took it one step further helping to stock the shelves.

“They need help and we are helping them with whatever they need,” said Sam.

The director of Second Harvest Food Bank Mary J. Crouch, says without the help like this they would never be able to keep up with the demand.

“The demand is up with all the layoffs and everything going on, in our community there are more people needing food there’s more of a need,”said Crouch.

And when the students came up with the idea to help stock the shelves, she was thrilled.

“They came up with the whole idea and designing something that would help the food bank,” said Crouch. “Doing something for their community that is a hometown hero.”

Brendan Foster - a young hero for all

In memory of Brendan Foster, who died November 21, 2008.

Brendan Foster (1997 - 2008) was a victim of leukemia . Before Foster died, he expressed his last few generous wishes. Brendan Foster wanted to feed the hungry and hopeless. Foster’s wish became known and motivated lots of people to donate food to the poor. Then Foster wanted to save the bees. At his funeral packets of wildflower seeds were distributed for people to scatter. The wild flowers, when grown, would provide bees with nectar.

A young man with a big heart

He is just a young boy, but he is looking out for those around him.

He is not old enough to get a job, but he is willing to give up his allowance to feed a homeless man on the side of the road.

Ayden Hobbs of Whitehouse has a heart of gold.

As Kelly Hobbs talked with her son Ayden about his upcoming birthday party, she asked him about an idea that he was quick to say yes to. The idea was to ask his friends and family to bring items for the food pantry in Troup when they came to his party rather than gifts for him.

When asked why it is important to help people in need, Ayden responded, “Because Jesus tells us to.”

Ayden is very familiar with how the food pantry in Troup works. He has spent many hours there himself, along with his dad Blake, helping his “Gigi,” LaDelle Tuley, and the other faithful volunteers stacking cans, emptying boxes and cleaning.

His mother Kelly says it is like a passion for him to help the hungry.

One day as they came to an intersection in Tyler, Ayden spotted a man standing at the corner with a sign. He asked his mother about it. What did that sign say and why was he just standing there? She explained that his sign was that he was homeless and wanted to work for food. Ayden insisted that they get the man some lunch and take it to him. They did.

KLTV will air a segment about Ayden naming him an Everyday Hero.

Read Full Story - Whitehouse youth named Everyday Hero

From gang member to Youth of the Year

Manuel Contreras loved to fight, to street brawl.

He was running with a gang from a tough neighborhood in south Redwood City. “Manny Lokz” was his nickname.

“I was one crazy dude,” said Contreras, 19, showing a compact, boxer’s build and close-shaven head.

He had been in and out of juvenile hall and kicked out of several schools when his probation officer gave him a deal: Do community service at the local Boys & Girls Club or spend more time in lockup.

Contreras took the deal and has found a different gang to run with — one that has inspired him to change his attitude and outlook on life.

Instead of searching for fights, he’s looking out for young children and helping them with homework and other needs at the club.

Since first walking into the club about three years ago, he has earned his diploma from an alternative high school, won scholarships and attended Cañada College.

His turnaround has brought him the club’s Youth of the Year award and a commendation from the San Mateo County Board of Education.

“I like to have fun in a good way, not the old way,” said Contreras, who works at the club as a social education assistant. “Here I can just be me. I have a big smile on my face. Here I can help.”

Read Full Story - Part of a new, helping crew

Related Links:

• Boys & Girls Club of America
• Boys & Girls Club Facebook
• The Readers Digest donates $1M to Boys & Girls Club of America
• Be Great! - watch the video (below)

Kid can do it all on one leg

Adam Bender slips a chest protector over his Astros jersey, buckles a shinguard to his right leg, positions a mask atop his head, grabs his catcher’s mitt and hops out of the dugout.

Adam has his game face on. Or at least what passes as a game face for an 8-year-old. His eyes are serious. His freckled nose is crinkled with determination.

It is a cool, breezy Saturday morning at Veterans Park, which is already buzzing with activity. Baseball games are being played on three diamonds within a pop-up of each other. Parents are clustered in and around the stands, chatting and cheering. Players of all ages, wearing uniforms or team T-shirts, swarm the place.

Hardly anybody gives a second glance to the catcher in the Southeastern rookie league deftly playing on one leg.

Adam Bender is just another kid playing ball, which is exactly how his parents, Michelle and Chris, want it.

“I was a little hesitant when we first brought him up here for baseball,” Michelle said. “I thought his spirit might be crushed if he got out every time. Then I thought, who am I to micromanage his feelings? He’s going to have to learn how to deal with this stuff.

“The more I shelter him, the more he’ll think, ‘I’m fragile.’ I don’t think I’ll ever tell him he can’t do something.”

Adam is amazing to watch. He takes his position behind the plate, resting on his right knee.

When a runner rounds third looking to score, Adam jumps up and holds his ground.

He suffered a mild concussion on one collision and missed a practice or two. But he recovered and was ready for action in the next game. At one point this season he led the rookie league in put-outs at home.

At bat, his athletic skill and balance allow him to take a full swing, and he usually makes contact. He hops to first base as quickly as he can. If he’s safe, he uses crutches to run the bases. When he gets thrown out, he hops dejectedly back to the dugout.

He’s a competitor, and not just in baseball.

Adam, who lost his left leg to cancer when he was 1, has played soccer for a couple of years. He uses crutches, and is a whirlwind on the field in Centenary United Methodist’s “I Am Third” league.

Full Story from Mike Fields at the Lexington Herald-Leader

Adam’s story will be featured on ESPN in the coming months.

In July, he threw out the first pitch at a Cincinnati Reds game, and he caught the first pitch at Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros games.

He also went to Las Vegas as a special guest at a party at Caesars Palace put on by Garth Brooks’ Teammates for Kids Foundation.

In January, Adam will return to Chicago to receive the Bo Jackson Courage Award at the Pitch & Hit Club’s 63rd annual awards dinner.

Young fighter battles cancer to the end with Bernard Hopkins

You won’t find Shaun Negler’s name in the FightFax database, the official record-keeping service of professional boxing.

There are no tapes of any of his memorable wins or stories of epic triumphs left behind. That’s because they don’t exist. He was robbed of a career in the sport he loved.

But none other than Bernard Hopkins, one of the greatest fighters of this or any generation, will tell you that he hasn’t met a tougher, or more courageous, fighter than Shaun Negler.

The improbable friendship between the long-time middleweight champion and the 18-year-old who worshipped him officially ended at 12:15 p.m. EDT on Oct. 23, 2008, when Negler could fight no more and succumbed to a 2½ year battle with cancer.

But Hopkins, who first met Negler in 2006 when he learned that the then-16-year-old had a deadly form of cancer, isn’t ready to accept that his friend is gone.

“This kid’s soul is still with us,” said Hopkins, who served as a pall bearer at Negler’s funeral in Philadelphia on Oct. 29. “His spirit lives inside of me and inside a lot of the people I met over these last couple of years.”

Hopkins said that for as much as he may have given to Shaun and the Neglers, he received much more in return.

“This was a kid who had every reason to feel sorry for himself, who had every reason to give up, and he never once would give in and he never once looked at the dark side of anything,” Hopkins said. “He looked at death and said, ‘I want to live. And I’m going to make the most of what I have.’ And that’s what we have to do while we’re here on this Earth. Take what you have and do the best you can with it. Look at what this kid was dealt and look what he did with it.

Read the entire article on Yahoo Sports - Hopkins and an even tougher fighter

Yahoo Sports

2 Million Minutes - compelling education reality

Regardless of nationality, as soon as a student completes the 8th grade, the clock starts ticking.  From that very moment the child has approximately -

…Two Million Minutes until high school graduation…Two Million Minutes to build their intellectual foundation…Two Million Minutes to prepare for college and ultimately career…Two Million Minutes to go from a teenager to an adult.

How a student spends their Two Million Minutes - in class, at home studying, playing sports, working, sleeping, socializing or just goofing off — will affect their economic prospects for the rest of their lives.

North Carolina High School Students administer $160,000 dollars in grants

On Saturday, October 25, 2008 more than 300 high school-aged youth from across North Carolina will come together in Greensboro for the Third Annual North Carolina Youth Giving Summit.   Entitled “The Art Of Giving”, the Summit is designed to prepare how and where these high school students will grant over $160,000 to help their communities. The funds have been donated from philanthropic organizations across the state and will be entrusted to these youth for allocation.

The North Carolina Youth Giving Network (NCYGN) is a statewide collection of 17 different youth philanthropy sites, from as far East as Rutherford County to as far West as Northampton County.  The NCYGN is coordinated by Leading To Change, a nationally recognized training organization based in Charlotte, in partnership with NCGives.  NCYGN members at the Youth Giving Summit will learn strategies to assess the needs of their communities, techniques to effectively facilitate meetings, and methods to further develop resources in their communities. Community leaders and churches selected youth from their areas that are committed to giving back to the community for participation in the Summit.

The Summit draws youth from over 25 counties, including Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Gaston, Guilford, Mecklenburg, Vance, and Wilkes Counties.  Additionally, the statewide organization NCNAYO (North Carolina Native American Youth Organization) will also participate with youth representing over 20 tribal communities throughout NC.

This Summit marks only the third ever convening of all of these counties for youth philanthropic efforts. Sponsors of the event include NCGives, Foundation for the Carolinas, North Carolina Community Foundation, the Winston-Salem Foundation, Communities In Schools, Generation Engage, and the Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro.

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