Here's something you might be interested in.
I've been doing volunteer work for the Make-a-Wish Foundation for about five years now.
I used to buy things that a radio station auctioned, with the money going to the charity. Then, I dated a cop in Los Angeles. I used to make her go with me to Dairy Queen, when they gave 100% of their Blizzard sales to Make a Wish. She finally said, "Why don't you just give them some money, if you feel so strong about that place?"
Well, I donate blood to the Blood Bank. I give old clothes to Goodwill. But, I just don't make enough money to give it to charity. Well, maybe I do. But, I like buying crap; old radios and jukeboxes I collect. And, music memorabilia.
But, I figured, since I type 100 words per minute, I'd donate my time. Maybe they can use an office typist. And, that lead to me doing a number of things for Make-a-Wish.
I've noticed, other people can be weird when it comes to doing charitable things. At a fundraiser for some local charity, I noticed two women that talked non-stop about all the wonderful things they did for the "less fortunate." It was almost like they did this, simply to brag about it. But, my logic there is -- hey, at least they're still doing something good, even if they have weird motives.
Well, last year during the football season, an unusual thing happened. A player on the Minnesota Vikings missed an entire week, when his mother died.
It became a PR nightmare for the Vikings, because they fined this young player. He was only making around $350,000 a year (I know, it sounds weird saying that amount after the word "only"...)
Everyone thought it was crazy for a team to do this. They had to explain that they give you a few days off, but not an entire week (he also missed a game).
The PR got so bad, that the Vikings gave back the money this guy lost (I think it was around $38,000).
Now, in the day and age we live, I got teary eyed when I read about what this player did. Not only did he not badmouth the team during all this. In fact, he even said he agreed with the fines, and was willing to pay. But, he said he took the money the team gave him, and donated to charity in his mothers name.
I thought this was such a wonderful gesture, I decided to do something to help this charity. And, to get some press out there for a young football player doing something so unselfish (also in a day and age when NFL players usually get press for the things they do wrong).
I started contacted NFL teams. I wanted each NFL player, to donate $100 to that same charity, in that players mothers name. I did the calculation at the time. Each team has 58 players, and there are around 30 teams in the league.
That was going to be a few hundred thousand dollars going to that charity.
I figured, a few NFL players might not cough up the money, but most probably would. And, it would raise some awareness, too.
I called the players agent. He called back, saying he was out of the country. We vollied a few emails back and forth, and then he said that his client just wanted to put this matter behind him. He didn't want me to pursue this.
So, I stopped making the phone calls.
And, I started wondering. Maybe this player didn't donate the money to a charity.
I only saw one small story about it, and the charity wasn't named.
I've been doing volunteer work for the Make-a-Wish Foundation for about five years now.
I used to buy things that a radio station auctioned, with the money going to the charity. Then, I dated a cop in Los Angeles. I used to make her go with me to Dairy Queen, when they gave 100% of their Blizzard sales to Make a Wish. She finally said, "Why don't you just give them some money, if you feel so strong about that place?"
Well, I donate blood to the Blood Bank. I give old clothes to Goodwill. But, I just don't make enough money to give it to charity. Well, maybe I do. But, I like buying crap; old radios and jukeboxes I collect. And, music memorabilia.
But, I figured, since I type 100 words per minute, I'd donate my time. Maybe they can use an office typist. And, that lead to me doing a number of things for Make-a-Wish.
I've noticed, other people can be weird when it comes to doing charitable things. At a fundraiser for some local charity, I noticed two women that talked non-stop about all the wonderful things they did for the "less fortunate." It was almost like they did this, simply to brag about it. But, my logic there is -- hey, at least they're still doing something good, even if they have weird motives.
Well, last year during the football season, an unusual thing happened. A player on the Minnesota Vikings missed an entire week, when his mother died.
It became a PR nightmare for the Vikings, because they fined this young player. He was only making around $350,000 a year (I know, it sounds weird saying that amount after the word "only"...)
Everyone thought it was crazy for a team to do this. They had to explain that they give you a few days off, but not an entire week (he also missed a game).
The PR got so bad, that the Vikings gave back the money this guy lost (I think it was around $38,000).
Now, in the day and age we live, I got teary eyed when I read about what this player did. Not only did he not badmouth the team during all this. In fact, he even said he agreed with the fines, and was willing to pay. But, he said he took the money the team gave him, and donated to charity in his mothers name.
I thought this was such a wonderful gesture, I decided to do something to help this charity. And, to get some press out there for a young football player doing something so unselfish (also in a day and age when NFL players usually get press for the things they do wrong).
I started contacted NFL teams. I wanted each NFL player, to donate $100 to that same charity, in that players mothers name. I did the calculation at the time. Each team has 58 players, and there are around 30 teams in the league.
That was going to be a few hundred thousand dollars going to that charity.
I figured, a few NFL players might not cough up the money, but most probably would. And, it would raise some awareness, too.
I called the players agent. He called back, saying he was out of the country. We vollied a few emails back and forth, and then he said that his client just wanted to put this matter behind him. He didn't want me to pursue this.
So, I stopped making the phone calls.
And, I started wondering. Maybe this player didn't donate the money to a charity.
I only saw one small story about it, and the charity wasn't named.