Just Gabe » heroes

Ex-NFL Star Partners with Kids Are Heroes

Gabe — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:14:00 +0000

Have you ever been involved with something that made you feel like you were the snowball at the top of the hill and someone just gave you a push? That’s how I feel right about now. I was recently approached by someone who asked me if I would consider a partnership. Now I am starting to get these requests all the time. I’m certainly not complaining, but some of the “partners” see our social media numbers and picture nothing but opportunity for them. I was naturally guarded at first. However, it didn’t take long for me to figure out that Mary, this new contact, was genuine and smart, and that this relationship could greatly benefit the both of us. Mary works with Levar Fisher, who after a stellar stint as an all-pro linebacker at NC State (Go Wolfpack!!), enjoyed a career in the NFL as he played for the Arizona Cardinals and the New Orleans Saints. Unfortunately for him, at the age of 27 he had a career ending knee injury. “Unfortunate” is how many would view this situation. Not Levar. He sees this as a godsend. “I was a check writer when I was in the NFL” Levar told me. “If people needed money for charity, I was happy to write them a check. But don’t ask me to appear at your function. I’m not comfortable with that.” Levar laughs when he looks back because now this is his livelihood. And boy is he happy doing it! Levar travels around the country as a motivational speaker. He speaks to all ages, but his true love is when he gets to speak to kids. He speaks of choices that face our youth, and encourages them to make the right ones. In high school he was bullied because as he puts it, he was “fat and slow”. “I’m going to be in the NFL!” he would tell people. “Levar, you’re crazy!! You’re way too fat for the NFL – you can’t even play for our high school football team!” his peers would tell him as they laughed and joked. Rather than let this ridicule beat him down, Levar was actually motivated by those disparaging remarks. In his sophomore year in high school he was the best player on the varsity team. He received a full scholarship to NC State. And you know the rest. “Don’t EVER let anyone tell you you can’t achieve your dream!” Levar tells kids.

In 2002 while just entering the NFL Levar founded a non-profit organization called “Fisher of Men”, which provide resources and opportunities for youth inspiring good decision-making and boosting self confidence. Levar is currently embarking on his brand new ”Believe Again 2010″ tour that will have him traveling the country speaking to kids of all ages. In addition to his usual message he will be telling stories of the kids on the Kids Are Heroes web site and what they have accomplished. This fits right in with his confidence building speech. He will be telling kids all over the country that they too can affect change by emulating the children on our site. I am so excited about this relationship as this is the kind of boost we need. But I wouldn’t enter in an arrangement like this just because someone wanted me to. For me the final test before we sealed this partnership was that Levar had to sincerely believe in what we are doing. During one of our conversations as he was recounting some of the heroes’ stories back to me I could tell he was full of excitement and anticipation. I sat back and listened as all of a sudden paused and said, “This can change the world!” That’s when I knew this partnership would work.

When I first watched a tape of Levar speaking, I immediately sought out our local Toastmasters club as he made me realize how much improvement I need to gain as an accomplished speaker. For forty minutes he was fluid and eloquent, with no need for notes of any kind. And when I heard the speech he gave to a large group of kids I was even more excited. He engaged them and they hung on his every word. They laughed and giggled at his jokes. He is intelligent, funny and very pleasant to listen to. He was able to keep their undying attention for the entire time.

If you are an educator I would highly suggest calling Levar and having him speak at your school or kids’ group. He can be reached through his web site. I look forward to witnessing the fruit that is borne from this relationship, and I just can’t wait to see what happens next!

Plans for 2010?

Gabe — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 17:20:36 +0000

This morning when I checked my Twitter feed I came across a particularly interesting question from my friend Eri. She asked me “What is your exciting plan for next year?”

Wow. What a great question. It’s not as if I haven’t thought about it, it’s just that noone has ever asked me that question before. I know that when you write things down more ideas come flowing out, so I decided to write a blog post about it.

Kids Are Heroes began in March of 2008, so we are just finishing up our second year. During that time we have featured close to 100 kids, had two Kids Are Heroes Days and been on Virgin Atlantic planes for one month, thanks to Sir Richard Branson. We have also created our first major project where we plan to involve kids from all over. I am happy with our progress, especially since we have become involved with social media. But at the moment we are still very small with big plans.

It is hard to develop exact timetables, especially when I know that there are so many unknowns. A lot of what we do will depend on what kind of financial help we can get. We are lucky to have a few business partners who support us but I would sure love to get a bunch more. :) Having said that plans are meant to be flexible, so let me at least speak to what we would like to do.

Drill our first well with the help of kids out there who don’t have their own project. We still want to encourage kids to follow their own passions, but also want to offer an alternative. This will be done through Project KAH2O.
Develop other projects so kids can select among them.
Secure our 501c3 status.
Finish our business plan (will it ever be finished?).
Provide funding for more kids to attend Kids Are Heroes Day in October.
Feature at least 150 more kids.
Start to provide web site development to help jump-start kids’ projects.
Develop materials that can be sent to schools. This will include a video (already produced) explaining what we do at Kids Are Heroes along with added resources.
Achieve mentions in several national media outlets.
Start to travel the country to spead the word.

We have felt from the beginning that Kids Are Heroes is something that works in every community and hope it will eventually become a household word. Just the other night my 11-year-old daughter MaryMargaret received an email from a 12-year-old girl named Lily. She is just getting started in her project to “help the world in its desperate struggle to stop the pollution and clean up our mess.” She noted that MaryMargaret “had some experience” and could she “give me some advice”. This is another role we really hope to develop — to help nurture kids’ ideas and help them maintain their focus so they can follow through with their projects. You bet we are following up with Lily and watching her progress.

So, I welcome the next year and hope we can indeed accomplish many of those things. One thing I am sure of, we will certainly be writing about it along the way!

Meeting Heroes

Gabe — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 12:09:05 +0000

From left to right: John, Evan, Mercy, Mandy, MaryMargaret and Casey (or as MM affectionately calls her: "Mini-Me")

I just love it when we have opportunities to get the kids from the Kids Are Heroes web site together. Our latest opportunity was yesterday in Baker Park, a beautiful setting in downtown Frederick, MD. Mary Kate McKenna, of Mary Kate McKenna Photography was generous enough to lend us her talents and take pictures of several heroes who participated in this get-together. There were boys and girls of ages ranging from five to ten years old, but none of that mattered when they were allowed to play together. There was a baseball diamond adjacent to the photo shoot, and it wasn’t too long before they were laughing together while chasing each other around the bases.

And what a photo shoot it was. Mary Kate as you can see is a very talented photographer. She has also availed herself for Kids Are Heroes Day, which will be held at the Francis Scott Key Mall on October 24, 2009. I encourage you to take a look at her amazing work, which features the following children from our web site: Casey, Kyle, John, MaryMargaret, Mandy, Mercy and Evan. If you comment on the photos she will donate to one of the hero’s causes, so please feel free to tell her how great the pictures are!