Hawkeye touchdowns to raise money for Children’s Hospital
Hawkeye football players may be under even more pressure than usual to score touchdowns this coming season.
A new program, called Touchdowns for Kids, will allow people to pledge money online to the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital for each touchdown the Hawkeyes score in the 2010 football season.
The program’s goal is to raise $1 million. If 50,000 fans pledge $1 per touchdown, and the Hawkeyes score 20 touchdowns next season, they’d reach that mark. The total amount raised would go to the UI Children’s Hospital.
Donors will receive an e-mail in December informing them of the total amount pledged and will be encouraged to fulfill that amount.
Representatives have started promoting the program throughout the Iowa City area, with 15 area businesses signed on as sponsors and promising to donate $25 per touchdown.
Officials will continue to promote it today in Cedar Rapids during the Cedar Rapids Chamber of Commerce’s monthly business exchange by distributing information and accepting pledges.
The Cedar Rapids-based networking club Breakfast of Champions — a nonprofit partnership committed to promoting downtown Cedar Rapids — has been highly involved in organizing the Touchdowns for Kids project.
Along with Michelle Altmaier, the director of the Children’s Miracle Network at the UI Children’s Hospital, they began developing the project in late January.
The program is designed to get people excited to give in a different way, said Tom Cilek, a Breakfast of Champions club member and senior vice president of the West Bank, 229 S. Dubuque St.
“We really believe that over a long period of time we can make a difference in the lives of children who are sick and their families,” Cilek said.
While this is the program’s first year, it is not the first time the Hawkeyes and UI Children’s Hospital have found themselves intertwined. Athletes from all different sports have a history of visiting patients at the hospital, Altmaier said.
“I think that anytime you pair up Iowa athletics and the UI Children’s Hospital, it’s really a winning combination,” she said.
While not formally teaming up for the project, football players will make a difference with each touchdown potentially bringing thousands of dollars to the hospital if the program meets its tentative goal.
Altmaier said the two are a natural fit because of proximity of the stadium and the hospital.
“Just across the street [from Kinnick Stadium], there are hundreds of families who are huddled around their children,” Altmaier said. “We really think a lot of people can relate to this and get excited about it.”
This is something all too familiar to Stacey Harmsen, a member of Breakfast of Champions and marketing business owner.
Harmsen remembered visiting a 3-year-old girl in the hospital who had just had a tumor the size of a cantaloupe removed from her stomach.
“It was very scary and heart-wrending to see someone that little go through something so terrible,” she said.
Ultimately, the group hopes to get all Hawkeyes fans, no matter their location, to donate any amount they can, Harmsen said.
“It would be awesome to see $50,000 for the University of Iowa Children’s Hospital come up on the Jumbotron every time the Hawkeyes score a touchdown,” she said.
comments powered by Disqus
