Great Players, Great Deeds
Often lost in the ongoing scrutiny of NFL wins and losses, touchdowns and tackles, passing yards and sacks, highlight reel plays and catastrophic blunders is a simple fact: These are human beings out there playing the game. Just like the audience at home and in the stands, NFL rosters consist of men from all walks of life – some good, some not so good, and many whose greatness goes unnoticed, both on the field and off.
On this Thanksgiving week, when “To Brock or not to Brock,” has been on the tip of every tongue in Denver, the team here at Mile High Sports thought it best to take a momentary step back from the fracas for our weekly “Power Rankings” and shed some light on the ways in which our favorite team, the Denver Broncos, and its players are making a difference in the community here in Colorado and their respective homes, wherever they may be.
This space, usually reserved for a “Who’s better than whom” list of everything from tight ends to first-time starters, this week recognizes all players as equals. Rather than a subjective numerical ranking based on personal accomplishment, we present an alphabetical listing of the various Denver Broncos player charities, including ways in which you can support them.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Editor’s note: Information for each charity or charitable act was sourced and edited from the player or organization’s website, or from Denver Broncos media. Corrections, additions or comments can be sent to editor@milehighsports.com.
Omar Bolden – The Positive Living Award
In April of 2011, shortly after Omar Bolden chose to return to school for his senior year, he tore his ACL on the forth play of a scrimmage in his spring game.
It ultimately caused him to miss his senior season as well as watch his draft stock plummet. At that point in his life, positivity was the only thing that helped him see the light at the end of the tunnel.
From that point on, Bolden made a decision that no matter what happens he will always live positive. He began to tweet #PositiveLiving, which slowly became a movement that people couldn’t help but want to be a part of.
The Positive Living Award is given to a Denver Broncos fan who has made a difference in the world through their attitude, their work and outreach to others. The generosity of spirit that our neighbors embody and use to improve the lives of others inspires us.
It isn’t always the grand gesture; it might be someone who volunteers or works with a non-profit that goes above and beyond what is needed. Sometimes it is someone who quietly steps up in another’s time of need, supports a caregiver, helps an overwhelmed parent or provides transportation for an elderly neighbor. These people are great role models and those “little things they do for others” often mend hearts.
As Bolden’s website says, “Grace isn’t a little prayer you say before eating a meal. It’s a way to live.”
The winner of the Positive Living Award will receive two tickets to a 2015 Denver Broncos home game and pre-game field passes to meet Bolden. There will be Positive Living Awards granted for the remaining Denver Broncos home games.
This year, Denver Broncos players will join Bolden and The Salvation Army to prepare meals for their annual Thanksgiving community dinner at the Colorado Convention Center.
Broncos players will help The Salvation Army kitchen staff make traditional Thanksgiving side dishes and desserts. The event serves roughly 1,300 of Denver’s residents in need on Thanksgiving Day.
Learn more at www.omarcbolden.com.
David Bruton Jr. – Bruton’s Books
The Mission of the David Bruton Jr. Foundation and Bruton’s Books is to help low-income children in grades K-3 become strong readers through tutoring and by providing books to underfunded schools, libraries, and classrooms.
Bruton’s Books is partnered with the Colorado Reading Corps, a strategic program of Mile High United Way ’s School Readiness Initiative.
Low-income students’ reading achievement significantly trails that of their more affluent peers: 83 percent of all low-income fourth graders score below proficient compared to 67 percent of all fourth grade children. Half of all fourth graders from low-income families score below the “basic” reading level compared to one-third of all fourth graders. For children of color from low-income families, the reading gap is even greater.*
The goal of the program is to ensure that all children are competent readers by the end of third grade.
Learn more or get involved at brutonsbooks.org.
*Annie E. Casey Foundation, EARLY WARNING! Why Reading By The End of Third Grade Matters, (Baltimore: Annie E. Casey Foundation, 2010).
Owen Daniels – Catching Dreams Foundation
The mission of Owen Daniels’ Catching Dreams Foundation is to provide opportunities, support and resources to children and families in need. Established in 2010, the primary focus of Owen Daniels’ Catching Dreams Foundation is to provide critically and chronically ill children throughout Greater Houston with daily support and life changing experiences.
Owen Daniels’ Catching Dreams Foundation has two signature programs: Owen’s Locker and Operation North Pole.
Owen’s Locker enriches the lives of chronically and critically ill children by providing them and their families with access to notebook computers, PlayStation Portables, PSP games, DVD players, DVD’s and games to help pass time during treatment and recovery.
Owen’s Locker appears in three Houston-area hospitals: Texas Children’s Hospital, Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital and Shriners Hospitals for Children.
For Operation North Pole, each December, Owen and a few of Santa’s elves visit a local Walmart to pass out gifts to help spread the holiday cheer to children and their families from Houston-area hospitals.
Visit owendaniels.org to get involved.
Vernon Davis – Vernon Davis Foundation for the Arts
The Vernon Davis Foundation for the Arts was created to promote art education and art appreciation among youth from disadvantaged backgrounds. It fulfills its mission by providing scholarships to dedicated art students and grants to deserving nonprofit programs who share in the foundation’s ideals.
The Vernon Davis Foundation for the Arts envisions communities where the arts are vital to social development and represent a positive alternative for youth dealing with stress and peer pressure. Through the arts, youth can find new ways to express themselves, to lift their spirits and fulfill their dreams.
The foundation created and supports Gallery 85, a beautiful gallery whose setting presents ongoing thematic exhibitions that encourage interdependence and self-expression. The exhibition programs engage an all-age audience to utilize the Arts as a medium to help further investigation in the fields of science, math, culture and athletics. Artworks by contemporary artists displayed open the dialog for different perspective as well as independent thinking.
Gallery 85 is currently closed, but will be relocated in 2016. Until then, the gallery will be virtual.
Learn more about the foundation and the gallery at vernondavisfoundation.org.
Chris Harris Jr. – The Chris Harris Jr. Foundation
The goal of the Chris Harris Jr. Foundation is to get kids to make pledges about how they will approach school, chores, physical fitness and community service. Harris and his wife also each have a child in the program that they personally mentor. The Chris Harris Jr. foundation will always look at identifying groups that may be overlooked and find ways to support them and put them in the spotlight. Throughout his football career, Harris has consistently found himself playing the role of the Underdog; his foundation helps other Underdogs reach their potential.
There are thousands of children in Denver and across the country who are also Underdogs, and the Chris Harris Jr. Foundation is Harris’ way of helping those kids rise above their circumstances and strive for greatness. Harris believes every Underdog deserves a shot at success. Every summer Harris holds a free Underdog Football Skills Academy in Denver as well as his hometown of Tulsa, Okla. to support young underdogs trying to live out their dreams. Harris and his wife are also active in the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.
Additionally, Harris is also an active voice speaking out against domestic violence, a problem Chris believes we can begin to solve if male athletes and role models take a proactive stand against it.
For more information, please visit ChrisHarrisJr.com
Malik Jackson – Helping Hands for Freedom, Lucky 7 for Kids Campaign
This year, the Denver Broncos nominated defensive end Malik Jackson for the NFL Salute to Service Award for his extensive work with Colorado military families.
Jackson partnered with Helping Hands for Freedom to serve as a spokesman for the organization and work together to support military children and families who are thrust into tough situations of deployment, injury or loss.
Jackson recently teamed up with Helping Hands for Freedom to launch its Lucky 7 for Kids Campaign, which aims to raise money by encouraging 100,000 people to donate $7 to the campaign. All donations will be directed to Helping Hands for Freedoms’ four military youth program areas: Life Enrichment, Sports & Education, Life Assistance and the Dream “Chaser” Program.
Jackson hosted his first youth football camp in Colorado Springs, Colo., for children ages 8-14 in July and teamed up with Helping Hands for Freedom to offer complimentary entry for children of military families. He chose to host his three-day camp in Colorado Springs because of the large population of military families with its proximity to the Air Force Academy and Fort Carson military base.
Learn more or contribute at Helping Hands for Freedom.
Peyton Manning – PeyBack Foundation, Chattanooga Heroes Fund
Peyton Manning established the PeyBack Foundation in 1999 to promote the future success of disadvantaged youth by assisting programs that provide leadership and growth opportunities for children at risk. The PeyBack Foundation has provided more than $10 million of impact to at risk youth through its grants and programs since its inception to Colorado, Indiana, Louisiana and Tennessee. The Foundation supports numerous organizations and programs through its grant program, but also operates and funds several of its own programs for underprivileged children. The Foundation carefully selects programs that it can support financially and considers the grant program a partnership with these organizations, not just an exchange of money. The Foundation has become a consistent and viable part of these four communities in terms of underprivileged children.
Peyton not only supports the PeyBack Foundation financially, as President of the Foundation, he is active in all major decisions concerning its initiatives and constantly seeks new opportunities and organizations to further the success of the Foundation.
In 2015 alone, the PeyBack Foundation contributed to more than seventy Colorado-based organizations to the tune of more than $600,000 in total.
Additionally, Manning supports The Children’s Hospital at St. Vincent, Project 18 (battling childhood obesity), Scholastic Book Club and scholarships at the University of Tennessee.
His latest effort is the Chattanooga Heroes Fund, which benefits the families of the service members and police officers who were killed or wounded in the July 2015 attack on an armed forces recruiting station in Tennessee.
Learn more and contribute to the PeyBack Foundation at peytonmanning.com.
Donations to the Chattanooga Heroes Fund can be made over the phone by calling 423-265-0586 or online at CFGC.org.
Brandon McManus – Anti Bully Squad
Co-founded by kicker, Anti Bully Squad’s mission is to create a permanent solution to bullying through education, advocation, awareness, and prevention. Through good moral character, hand in hand with the dedicated support of TV, music, and sports professionals, they plan to create an environment which will not tolerate bullying and its adverse affects on any individual.
ABS encourages adults and kids of all walks of life to “take the oath” and promise to step in and speak out whenever they witness bullying.
McManus personally takes time to meet with and encourage victims of bullying.
Broncos fans can join McManus and other members of the squad and take the oath at antibullysquad.org.
Von Miller – Von’s Vision
Every year 5,000 low-income 1st grade students enter the Denver Public School System without ever seeing an eye doctor. More than 1,900 of them need glasses. The Denver Public School System currently has more than 27,000 low-income students who need some level of vision correction. Von’s Vision was formed on these statistics in mind.
Von’s Vision provides both one-day and year-round support programs.
Von’s Vision Day has two parts. First, Von’s Vision partners with national and regional eye wear retailers to provide a city-wide vision day for low-income Denver children. Each child receives a free screening, and if needed, free eye exams and corrective eye wear. After the prescription glasses have been cut, Von hosts a Reveal Party where children are fitted for their glasses, personally delivered by Von.
“Von’s Vision – All Year Long” was launched in 2015 to provide free corrective eye wear to Denver-area children and students. In 2015, “Von’s Vision – All Year Long” will help more than 2,000 low-income Denver-area children and students.
Additionally, Miller raises funds for the organization throughout the year with events like “Celebrity Waiter,” “Celebrity Steak Out” and “Celebrity Grand Prix.”
To donate or learn more, go to vonmiller.org.
Brock Osweiler – NFLPA Community MVP (Nov. 14, 2014)
At the start of the 2014 season, Osweiler formed a relationship with the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children to set up monthly visits with patients. Throughout the season Osweiler visited the hospital, spending time with each patient and thanking hospital staff.
“The visits to Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children has not only been a great thing for the kids, but it’s played a huge part in my life as well,” Osweiler said via the NFLPA website. “Playing in the NFL, I’m essentially living out my dream every single day, and I’m so fortunate for so many great things. To be able to be in a situation to give back just a little bit is something that means a lot to me. I think there is a great responsibility for NFL players to do that. It’s been a great deal so far.”
Osweiler’s work with children who are battling cancer extends beyond Colorado, as well. Last year he made a very special contribution in Arizona, where he starred as a quarterback at Arizona State, providing support for a family whose daughter was terminally ill.
Tyler Polumbus – Tyler’s Kids Outreach
Through Tyler’s Kids Outreach (TKO), Tyler Polumbus and his wife strive to enrich the lives of children through family, faith and personal growth. Polumbus is a homegrown success story in Denver, so keeping a focus of the program on Denver is that much more important to him. However, of equal importance is to give back to the communities in which his NFL team resides. From their own upbringing, Polumbus and his wife fully appreciate the importance of all three elements – family, faith and personal growth – in the healthy development of children. Moreover, Polumbus realizes that through his program the children will enrich their lives as much as they will theirs.
TKO operates under the 501 (c)(3) umbrella of Athletes for Education which is a San Diego-based non-profit foundation. They have put on adaptive football camps, hospital visits and “Princess for the Weekend” events.
Visit tkoprogram.org to learn more.
Louis Vasquez – Various Latino/Hispanic/Chicano charities
Louis Vasquez, who grew up in the Catholic Church and faced challenges when his parents divorced early in his life, shared his personal challenges growing up via an internet radio show in 2014. “It was a challenging life living in a single family home. It was me and my father. We moved every other month. From a new apartment to another home.”
Vasquez’s charitable efforts are more understated than some of his teammates’, in that he does not have a foundation or a website.
But Vasquez is indeed giving back to the community. In the interview he explained he will be part of a charity event with George Lopez that helps less fortunate families in the Latino communities. Vasquez will be working with is Chicano Bikers Club to raise money for less fortunate Hispanic families.
T.J. Ward – T.J. Ward Foundation
Growing up in urban San Francisco, Ward realized success through hard work and dedication. His experiences have taught him to highly value intellect, instinct, character, morals, family and loyalty.
The T.J. Ward Foundation is committed to enhancing the lives of young people by supporting programs that provide the tools necessary to empower young men and women in underprivileged communities across the country. The Foundation focuses on socioeconomic, educational and physical needs of the young people it supports. The T.J. Ward Foundation stresses the importance of education while also placing an important emphasis on physical fitness and health. These areas are recognized as playing a crucial role in youth development and ultimately leading to a successful and fulfilling life.
To assist with its mission the foundation receives support from corporate partners, fundraising events, fans, volunteers and staff. Due to T.J.’s existing relationships in the Bay Area and Denver markets the foundation makes it a primary focus to support programs and initiatives in those geographic areas.
In addition to supporting organizations like including Purpose2Play, Boys and Girls Clubs of America and the Rocky Mountain Hospital for Children, the Foundation sponsors a “Boss of the Month” contest that sends community leaders to Broncos games for a one-of-a-kind experience.
To learn more, donate or nominate a “Boss of the Month,” visit tjward43.com.
DeMarcus Ware – Jonathan’s Place
DeMarcus Ware may be a Denver Bronco now, but he will be mostly remembered for his All-Pro years as a member of the Dallas Cowboys. During his time with Dallas, Ware forged a special relationship with the Dallas-based charity, Jonathan’s Place.
The mission of Jonathan’s Place is to provide a safe, loving home and specialized services to children who have been abused, abandoned or neglected.
Jonathan’s place offers four programs to benefit children in these dire circumstances:
The Emergency Shelter provides residential care and specialized services to newborns and children up to 17 years old. We are the only organization in Dallas County that provides residential services to children under the age of 10. While at Jonathan’s Place, each child receives medical and dental exams, developmental, psychological assessments, weekly individual and group therapy and is enrolled in school.
The Foster Care & Adoption program recruits, trains and supports foster and adoptive parents. Case managers work to place children into a Jonathan’s Place foster home that is qualified to meet the individual needs of that child. Should a child become eligible for adoption, we provide a continuum of care for the child and their adoptive family.
The Girls Residential Treatment Program provides a home for girls between the ages of 10 – 17, who are in need of therapeutic residential care and specialized professional services. These girls have experienced neglect, abandonment, physical, emotional and sexual abuse. The Girls Residential Treatment Program is the only licensed residential placement option of its kind in Dallas County.
The Safe Place program is a national outreach and runaway prevention program designed to educate middle and high school aged children about abuse and provides immediate help and safety to youth in crisis.
Even though he now plays for the Denver Broncos, Ware has maintained his relationship with Jonathan’s Place, even going back to emcee an event for the organization in 2014.
To learn more or provide financial support, visit jpkids.org.