Life IS Sport

The Super Bowl is More Than a Game for the NFL

This is Super Bowl week so I thought I would check out what the NFL is doing to give back and I was impressed with their community activity during Super Bowl Week.

From the NFL Website...."The NFL and the host city give equal attention to the game and the community each year. Throughout the week preceding the game, the NFL stages multiple events and activities to enliven, enrich, and assist the Super Bowl host community. As community outreach is an important element of the Super Bowl experience, our goal is to take a leadership role and encourage others to join us in public service."

"The NFL Experience, a huge interactive NFL theme park and the largest Super Bowl-related event, is just one example of the NFL’s commitment to the host city’s community. Proceeds from ticket sales are donated to the NFL Youth Education Town."

"Other Super Bowl community events include a major home refurbishment project with Rebuilding Together; Habitat for Humanity Blitz Builds; Careers in Sports lecture series serving college students; the annual “Taste of the NFL” which benefits hunger-relief affiliates and America’s Second Harvest programs; the NFL Charities Super Bowl Golf Classic; and a Football 101 workshop for women."

In addition to the Super Bowl Week activities, the NFL also has multiple programs in the following areas:

YOUTH, COMMUNITY, DIVERSITY, HEALTH, VOLUNTEERISM, NFL CHARITIES

Coaching Barefoot for Children Update: IUPUI Coach Receives Donations of Over 100,000 Pairs of Shoes

Last week (1/16) Life IS Sport made you aware of Ron Hunter, IUPUI's Mens Basketball Coach, and his effort to
partner with Samaritans Feet to collect 40,000 pairs of shoes for children in Africa by coaching barefoot in a home game on January 24th.

Before the game tipped off, 110,000 shoes had been pledged.

Here are some details from ESPN. "A crowd of more than 1,000 attended the game at IUPUI Gymnasium -- and some of the students showed up barefoot, in support of Hunter. The school announced that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had donated 10,000 pairs, with the possibility of more to come. Soles4Souls, a Nashville-based charity, donated 40,000 pairs. Wal-Mart gave 25,000; Nine West, a women's shoe company, offered another 5,200. Converse donated 15,000 during Hunter's appearance on ESPN Radio's "Mike & Mike in the Morning" on Thursday."

Read more here from ESPN

Hope Runs

I was doing some research recently and stumbled upon this inspiring non -profit started by two extraordinary young women, Claire A. Williams and Lara Vogel, who embody the spirit of sport for social change!

HOPE RUNS is a non-profit NGO working in Kenya and Tanzania, using athletics, education, and social entrepreneurship to empower AIDS orphans. Hope Runs' Mission is To use running and athletics as a gateway for the empowerment of AIDS orphans with the tools of personal health, social entrepreneurship, and technology.

Hope Runs had its unlikely start at the end of the founders' eight-month trip around the world.

Here are a few noteworthy accomplishments from the Hope Runs website

34,488 miles run
3,400 donated pairs of running shoes...AND
The first blog, Tumaini Kids on the internet written by orphans and vulnerable children. Make sure you check this site out and watch the video below!

Last Friday, Kicking It, a documentary about the 2006 Homeless World Cup, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

The film is "an intimate look at homeless athletes who find a greater goal on the football field as they journey with 48 nations to Cape Town, South Africa 2006 Homeless World Cup. The film chronicles the lives of seven players taking a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to represent their country while overcoming poverty and addiction. The players come from war-torn Afghanistan, the slums Mathare and Huruma in Kenya, the drug rehabiltation clinics of Dublin, the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina, the public shelters of Madrid and the rural immigrants' culture in St Petersburg."

About the Film (from the films website)
There are an estimated one billion homeless people in the world.

In 2006, 48 countries competed in the 4th annual Homeless World Cup.
One year later...
92% players have a new motivation for life
73% have changed their lives for the better
93 players successfully addressed a drug or alcohol dependency
35% have secured regular employment
44% have improved their housing situation
39% chose to pursue education
72% continue to play football

Check out the trailer below for Kicking It, a feature documentary film, about the power of sports to change lives.

On January 24th Ron Hunter, head men's basketball coach at  Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI), will coach barefoot against Oakland University.

Hunter wants to collect 40,000 pairs of shoes, the number in honor of the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr., to bring to Africa to give to people who are not fortunate enough to have shoes. And for one game he will coach without shoes on himself.

Working with an organization called Samaritan's Feet, Hunter, who is in his 14th season with the Jaguars, wants to raise awareness of the people around the world without shoes.

Samaritan's Feet was founded four years ago by Emmanuel "Manny" Ohonme. Ohonme grew up exceedingly poor in Nigeria and never had a pair of shoes until he was nine years old when a stranger gave him his first pair. That moment in his life, according to him, inspired him to try to make a difference in other people's lives.

Read about how Hunter was inspired and the reaction his action has caused here at Yahoo Sports.

Read Coach Ron Hunters personal appeal to get involved here.

"Kicking It" documentary premieres at Sundance Film Festival

Last Friday, Kicking It, a documentary about the 2006 Homeless World Cup, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.

The film is "an intimate look at homeless athletes who find a greater goal on the football field as they journey with 48 nations to Cape Town, South Africa 2006 Homeless World Cup. The film chronicles the lives of seven players taking a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to represent their country while overcoming poverty and addiction. The players come from war-torn Afghanistan, the slums Mathare and Huruma in Kenya, the drug rehabiltation clinics of Dublin, the streets of Charlotte, North Carolina, the public shelters of Madrid and the rural immigrants' culture in St Petersburg."

About the Film (from the films website)
There are an estimated one billion homeless people in the world.

In 2006, 48 countries competed in the 4th annual Homeless World Cup.
One year later...
92% players have a new motivation for life
73% have changed their lives for the better
93 players successfully addressed a drug or alcohol dependency
35% have secured regular employment
44% have improved their housing situation
39% chose to pursue education
72% continue to play football

Check out the trailer below for Kicking It, a feature documentary film, about the power of sports to change lives.

NCAA Basketball Coach Goes Barefoot for Children

On January 24th Ron Hunter, head men's basketball coach at  Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis (IUPUI), will coach barefoot against Oakland University.

Hunter wants to collect 40,000 pairs of shoes, the number in honor of the 40th anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King Jr., to bring to Africa to give to people who are not fortunate enough to have shoes. And for one game he will coach without shoes on himself.

Working with an organization called Samaritan's Feet, Hunter, who is in his 14th season with the Jaguars, wants to raise awareness of the people around the world without shoes.

Samaritan's Feet was founded four years ago by Emmanuel "Manny" Ohonme. Ohonme grew up exceedingly poor in Nigeria and never had a pair of shoes until he was nine years old when a stranger gave him his first pair. That moment in his life, according to him, inspired him to try to make a difference in other people's lives.

Read about how Hunter was inspired and the reaction his action has caused here at Yahoo Sports.

Read Coach Ron Hunters personal appeal to get involved here.