The Green Bay Packers Give Back

The Green Bay Packers Give Back

In keeping with the spirit of football in this playoff season, I wanted to know who your favorite team was and what they do to give back?

Can you guess who my favorite team is? Okay, I know, I know...Lisa, you mention it whenever you can! True, true...but after poking around their website, I was pleased to hear how much the Green Bay Packers team gives back. I'm sure most teams do something for charity, so let me hear it. Who is your favorite sports team and what do they do? Go poke around their website and find out! Is there a way you can get involved?
The Packers Foundation states that:

Last year, in its annual distribution of funds, the foundation awarded $144,250 to 61 civic and charitable groups throughout the state of Wisconsin, Gary Rotherham, chairman of the Foundation committee, announced Feb. 27, 2007. With these disbursements, the Foundation has distributed $1,618,376 for charitable purposes since it was established in 1986 by Judge Robert J. Parins, then president of the Packers Corporation, "as a vehicle to assure continued contributions to charity." The financial breakdown of the Foundation's contributions discloses that 28 grants -- aggregating $79,750 -- were awarded to Brown County organizations. Additional grants, totaling $64,500, were made to 33 other groups around the state. Under the Packers Scholarship Program, established in 2002, an additional $15,000 is being awarded -- $7,500 to Scholarships, Inc., for distribution to students in four-year colleges -- and $7,500 to Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) for distribution to students in two-year associate degree or apprenticeship trades programs. The scholarship funds come from National Football League Properties which, at the Packers' request, returns to the Foundation royalty fees paid for using the Packers logo on Wisconsin automobile license plates. In the past year, the Packers Foundation also has distributed an additional $52,375 on behalf of National Football League Charities -- $21,500 in Community Quarterback awards to civic leaders for contributions to the community, $5,600 in Junior Community Quarterback awards, $12,375 in the NFL's Coach of the Week program, which honors successful Wisconsin high school coaches on a weekly basis throughout the season, $2,900 for the Junior Volunteer Stars grant, $5,000 in NFL Join the Team initiative, and $5,000 in the league's Hometown Huddle program.

This doesn't even begin to cover it -- they hold dinners for sick kids, lunch with Santa, work with the Salvation Army, encourage and reward giving of the community members and more. I know most teams probably do this stuff, but this is MY team! And I'm so proud of them!
In addition, the site also says that many Packers veterans have taken their acts of giving to a higher level by creating their own foundations, which have an impact on hundreds of lives each year in Wisconsin and the players' home states.

Donald Driver created the "Donald Driver Foundation" -- to help change the homeless families' issues and education needs each day with STRONG HANDS that build and strengthen instead of destroy and weaken, with STRONG MINDS that invent new ideas to achieve these goals, and with LOVING HEARTS that overflow with love and compassion.

Brett Favre has the "Brett Favre Fourward Foundation", which donates to several charities in Mississippi and in Wisconsin, donating in excess of $1.2 million to various charities in the two states. Check out www.officialbrettfavre.com.
And let's not forget about the work that his wife, Deanna, is doing for breast cancer research. Check her site out at http://www.deannafavre4hope.com/

Al Harris -- cornerback -- founded the Al Harris Foundation, which benefits inner city kids in Al's hometown of Pompano Beach, Florida.

In 2005, tackle Mark Tauscher established the 'Trifecta (Tauscher's Reading Initiative For Every Child To Achieve) Foundation,' its mission to enhance literacy and education in the state of Wisconsin.


Gooooooo Packers!
Lisa