In 1996, Nick ‘The Kick’ retired from professional football but continued into a retirement that many would consider a full-time job. The Nick Lowery Youth Foundation was established in 1996, providing assistance and guidance to many disadvantaged youth including many Native American teens that are in need of a guiding hand. Stemming from a childhood of sophisticated guidance and inspiration from family friends, neighbours and his aunt, Nick Lowery began his journey of giving back long before his Foundation was considered official.

“It really goes back to how I left college. I was a legislative aide in the United States Senate while I was trying to make it in the NFL. I grew up next door to Supreme Court Justice Byron White, whose name is on the Humanitarian Award that NFL players receive,” Nick explained.

“I just feel like I was surrounded by people who believed in service and contribution to their country. My aunt had Cerebral Palsy and yet she became Utah Citizen of the Year, she taught herself to type, she got her college degree and became a professional librarian at the University of Utah,” said Lowery.

The effects of growing up next to a humanitarian icon that happens to have the NFL’s Humanitarian Award named after him made an early impact on Nick Lowery. Byron White, a man who led the NFL in rushing twice, served as an intelligence officer for the United States military during the Second World War and was the fourth United States Deputy Attorney General. He gave Nick the inspiration to share such knowledge and restore faith in our elders wisdom.

“We believe that the American and Western culture has forgotten or ignored to a large degree, the traditional, historical and culturally relevant role of the elder initiating the young person into adulthood,” stated the three-time Pro Bowler.  “If you think about the seminal movies of the last 30 years, a lot of them, whether it’s Star Wars with Yoda or the Karate Kid, they always have mentoring figures,” added Lowery.

“What we do is this leadership training which gives young people a taste of power. It gives them an awareness of a crucial link between their own identity and purpose and their cultural roots.”

Nick Lowery and his Youth Foundation work towards providing unguided youth with a sense of self-determination, while enhancing compassion for making a real difference in making the world a better place. Through his lessons, which have been carefully crafted and developed from his time at Harvard, Lowery is able to create a mentor-rich environment in many children’s lives that are making the transition into adulthood, while enabling their understanding of their role in society.

“People have to understand how they connect culturally to transcend the national boundaries to achieve real power, real democracy, real freedom and that’s what the adapted leadership model is about,” said Nick. “Seeing that the world is melting away its normal boundaries and social network is replacing dictatorships and military hardware as the way that we can work together,” he added.

Not only does Nick ‘The Kick’ focus on encouraging today’s youth to become their own leaders, but he also supports various charitable causes and has helped raise awareness and money. His successful Kick with Nick for Cerebral Palsy raised $1 million for a cause that at the time had almost no name recognition, while educating the importance of the rights of those who are disabled.

In 1993, as a testament to Nick’s community work and care for others, he was awarded with the NFL’s most prestigious humanitarian award, the Byron Whizzer White Award, which to no coincidence is named after his life mentor, Byron White.

The Nick Lowery Youth Foundation works hard to provide countless children the chance to learn from proper positive mentors during what is a confusing time for much of society’s youth. A hero to the city of Kansas City for his excellence both on and off the field, Nick Lowery is more than just a former NFL place kicker, he is a mentor and an influence for generations young and old.

For more information on the Nick Lowery Youth Foundation, visit www.nicklowery.com

While attending Florida State, Boldin converted over to wide receiver in order to get more playing time with the team; only having spot duty as quarterback. The 23 games that he played as a wide receiver would help him make a new name for himself in the football world as he finished with 118 receptions; 1,790 receiving yards (averaging 15.2 yards per reception); and scored 21 touchdowns. Heading into the draft, Boldin’s time in the 40-yard dash made a lot of the scouts nervous and uncertain that he would be able to make it as an NFL wide receiver. With every team passing on him in the first round, Boldin was picked up by the Cardinals with the 22^nd pick in the second round and 54^th overall.

In his first season he was a starter for the Cardinals and managed to prove every scout wrong that passed on him in the previous draft. In his first game, he was already setting records as he recorded 217 receiving yards; the most by any player in their first ever NFL game, and tied Billy Sims for the most yards from scrimmage in their first game with 217 yards. Although it was his rookie season, Boldin didn’t waste any time adapting to the NFL. That season he finished with 101 receptions; 1,377 receiving yards (averaging 13.6 yards per reception); and scored 8 touchdowns. Aside from his impressive first-year stats, he was also the only rookie to be selected to the Pro Bowl that season and took home the Pro Football Writers Association Offensive Rookie of the Year and the Associated Press NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year awards.

Boldin would only start nine games in his sophomore season due to a knee injury. Despite missing nearly half the season, he still managed to finish second on the team in receptions and receiving yards; finishing with 56 receptions and 623 receiving yards. Although he finished second on the team in those categories, he only managed to score one touchdown while his yards per reception took a hit, dropping to 11.1 yards per reception. The following season, an injury would keep Boldin out of two games but it didn’t affect him as much. He started in 14 games that season, finishing with 102 receptions; 1,402 receiving yards (13.7 yards per reception); scored 7 touchdowns; and averaged 100 yards a game. That same season, the Cardinals’ sophomore wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald joined Boldin in surpassing the 100 receptions mark, as well as the 1,400 receiving yards mark, as the duo became just the third pair of receivers in NFL history to catch over 100 receptions each in addition to topping the 1,400 yard mark.

Although he didn’t manage to reach the 100 receptions mark the following season, Boldin once again totaled over 1,000 receiving yards as he finished with 1,203 receiving yards (a career high 14.5 yards for reception) and scored four touchdowns on 83 receptions. That season he became the fastest player to record 300 career receptions and earned himself another appearance in the Pro Bowl. He was named the offensive captain for the Cardinals during the 2007 season and became the fastest player to 400 receptions; only one year after he became the fastest player to reach 300 receptions.

The 2008 season would be another memorable season for Boldin and the Cardinals. Like the previous year, he was forced to miss a handful of games during the season but he stepped up and conquered the challenge as he finished with 89 receptions for 1,038 yards and scored a career-high 11 touchdowns in just 12 games that year. For the third consecutive season he made his way into the record books, this time becoming the fastest player to record 500 receptions in his career. He found his way back to the Pro Bowl for the third time and got a chance to play on the biggest stage as the Cardinals appeared in Super Bowl XLIII; a game in which they fell just shy of the Pittsburgh Steelers, losing 27-23. That same season, Anquan Boldin, Larry Fitzgerald and Steve Breaston became just the fifth 1,000-yard receiving trio in the history of the NFL.

Boldin would play one more year with the Cardinals following the Super Bowl loss. He recorded 1,000+ receiving yards for the fifth time in seven years since entering the league, but only managed to score four touchdowns that season. The team found their way back into the playoffs but had their run cut short in the second round by the New Orleans Saints who went on to win it all that year.

The following season, Boldin was traded to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for their 2nd, 3rd and 4th round draft picks to give Joe Flacco another target to go to. That season, the Ravens finished 12-4 but ended up losing to their division rivals; the Pittsburgh Steelers, in the second round. Boldin set another record, one he was all too familiar with, this time becoming the fastest player to 600 receptions for his career.He has always been known for his community work and giving back to those who are less fortunate in both Florida and Arizona. Now that he is playing in Baltimore, there is no doubt that he will be bringing his humanitarian and philanthropic efforts with him to the Ravens and the city of Baltimore.

In his sophomore season, Boldin began the Anquan Boldin “Q81” Foundation with a mission to bring hope to underprivileged children. He has many programs associated with the Foundation such as; the Palm Beach All-Stars Football Camp; the Q81 Summer Enrichment Program; Free Life Insurance; Home Energy Program; Dental Program; and many seasonal services such as holiday shopping sprees, donating football equipment and back to school items and YFL trips to NFL games.

The annual Palm Beach All-Stars Football Camp is one of the newest programs in the Foundation. Introduced this year, the Camp is a non-contact youth football skills camp for kids between the ages of 10 and 18. They receive instruction from Palm Beach County coaches along with local NFL players. It is supposed to help encourage kids to participate and enjoy the game of football, while learning to be a positive role model for others by being a leader and having an admirable work ethic.

Another new program is the Q81 Summer Enrichment Program. Through partnership with Florida Crystals Corporation, the Q81 Foundation supports students in Pahokee, Florida with an eight-week program designed for students at Everglades Preparatory Academy grades 9-12 who need courses to catch up academically. The participating teens get the opportunity for a credit-recovery program while enjoying other activities such as guest speakers, classroom discussions and field trips.

With the Free Life Insurance, Home Energy Program and Dental Program, the Foundation expands to so many more people since they have the ability to help out an entire family, rather than just the children. The Foundation and Bible Church of God help deliver Free Life Insurance to low-income families to pay for their children’s education if their mother or father passes away. Through this, thousands of people are offered a free 10-year term life insurance policy with a face value of nearly $50,000. With the Home Energy Program, the Foundation has teamed up with the SRP Electric Services to provide families in the Phoenix area with home energy checkups. Assessments help teach them ways to reduce energy in their homes, as well as inspect windows and doors for possible air leaks and missing or broken weather stripping. The families are also given an energy efficiency basket that is valued over $100. The Dental Program is in partnership with Oral and Facial Surgery Center of Phoenix and Woolaver Orthodontics. Established in 2009 to help underprivileged youth address urgent dental care needs, specifically children who are being profoundly impacted by chronic dental conditions such as jaw deformities, overbites, underbites, impacted and symptomatic wisdom teeth. Boldin got the idea for the Dental Program after suffering an injury that required immediate surgical care to his face and mouth in 2008.

The Foundation hosts many seasonal services as well. During the holidays they give out holiday dinners, as well as holiday shopping sprees to the families that can’t afford to celebrate the traditional holiday festivities. They also provide underprivileged children with back to school items and technology equipment to help with their education and provide the children with football equipment to help get them involved in the game and the community. Another thing that the Foundation is known for is taking teams from the Youth Football League and bringing them on field trips to NFL games throughout the season.

Anquan Boldin has been awarded the Distinguished Service and Key to the City awards for his generosity and positive leadership throughout the Pahokee Community. He has never forgotten about where he came from and he shows it as he still contributes to his native community just as much as he does to his seasonal community. He currently has 23 receptions this season for 354 receiving yards (15.4 yards per reception) and one touchdown. For his career to date he has 673 receptions for 8,711 yards (12.9 yards per reception) and has scored 52 touchdowns. He is in his ninth season in the NFL at the age of 31 and if he can stay healthy and continue to play for many more years, there is no doubt he will get his name somewhere else in the record books. Anquan has always been about giving back to the children and helping them get through the tough times in life. He has tried to open doors for many children already and he will continue to do so for as long as he can. He has always been known for his big plays on the field and the even bigger ones off of it that come from the bottom of his heart.

To learn more about the Anquan Boldin “Q81” Foundation, visit http://www.q81.org/

In his first season as the general manager of the Florida Panthers, Dale Tallon is trying to do whatever it takes to bring playoff hockey back to Florida and Panthers fans everywhere. With a large group of young, talented players, Tallon had plenty of free cap space available this past summer and didn’t waste time when it came to filling up the roster and spending the cash that was necessary. The man who practically built the Chicago Blackhawks into the Stanley Cup organization that they’ve become is now doing what it takes to turn his Panthers into a team with equal class and character. He understands how important it is as an organization to give back to those in need and that’s exactly what he did to get the team closer to each other and to the community around them.

For a team that has failed to taste the playoffs over the last 11 seasons, they have been doing something right during their years of misery and that’s lending a helping hand. Since 2003, the Florida Panthers Foundation has been working hard around South Florida, doing whatever it takes to help out those who are less fortunate. The non-profit organization focuses on fighting cancer and building a better future for children of the South Florida area. Through philanthropic partnership, grants, donations and community outreach programs, the Foundation maintains focus on children’s health, fitness, education and cultural needs. Over the years the team and Foundation have helped out by donating auction items such as game tickets, team signed jerseys and Zamboni rides to many organizations such as Big Brothers, Big Sisters of Broward County; American Cancer Society; Boys & Girls Club; Miami Disadvantaged Youth; Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital; Habitat for Humanity; the Children’s Cancer Fund; Make-A-Wish; Stellar Kids; the Andy Roddick Foundation and many, many more.

Last season the Foundation was able to raise a record of $130,000. This season, they are hoping to up the total and raise around $150,000 towards cancer relief. Since their Contract With The Community, the Florida Panthers Foundation has helped raise over $700,000 over the years and only plan on raising more money and awareness towards cancer relief. Through the Contract With The Community¸ the team has pledged to donate $1 million each season, raise awareness for children’s fitness and put hockey sticks in the hands of those who can’t afford them. They bring in players that they know will be a positive role model on the community and will always be there to lend a helping hand to whoever needs it in the city. They are going to look like a new team on the ice this season, and possibly for many more seasons to come, but off the ice they are still going to be the heroes that help around South Florida and do whatever they can to better everyone in the community. The faces may change over the years but the helping hands don’t.To learn more about the Florida Panthers Foundation, visit http://panthers.nhl.com/club/page.htm?id=37247