This past weekend, members of the AthLife Foundation team traveled to four states to promote the exemplary work that occurs on a daily basis at our partner schools. From the outset, the plan was simple. I was to make 100 free throws (1,100 total) at each of the 11 schools we support in the Northeast in a 24-hour time period. We would then post some information on social media about the great things that are happening at that school and move on to the next. We also asked people for a simple pledge of 1 cent a shot ($11 total) to fund the Kowalski-Robinson scholarship fund so we could provide eleven $1,000 scholarships to students at each school.
Simply put, we were overwhelmed with the response from the kids, schools, friends, family, and strangers. From our first stop at Allen High School in Pennsylvania, to our last at Curtis High School in New York, kids, coaches, teachers, parents and community members showed up in droves. They cheered on this grey haired man while I made 100 free throws, an act that I was certain would be as boring for them as watching paint dry. They instead made it fun. They clapped, chanted, danced, played knockout, shot along with me, or competed against me. It was inspiring to us all and hopefully you were able to get a taste of what happened through our social media feeds.
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, a time we are supposed to reflect on what we are thankful for. Most importantly, I am thankful for the unwavering support of my wife, along with the expressed love of my kids and family, without whom none of what we accomplish at AthLife, AthLife Unlimited, or The AthLife Foundation is possible.
Professionally, I give thanks to the AthLife staff, along with the Foundation board and advisory board, for their hard work and dedication to building our communities through ‘hand to hand combat’. The one-on-one work of our advisors with post-professional, professional, and collegiate athletes, along with the work the academic coaches execute on the high school level through the AthLife Foundation, is changing the world.
The work being done can’t be accomplished through a scalable technology. Some solutions need people and good old-fashioned mentoring and there is no way I know to work around that critical human interaction component. For AthLife, that comes from the extremely talented and dedicated people who sacrifice the big salaries they would otherwise make so they can have a very tangible impact on the future of the world we will leave our children.
If you have read this far, you are one of us, an AthLifer as we call ourselves. There are a lot of ways you can help, but here is one that costs you nothing and you have to do nothing different than you already do if you shop at Amazon.com. Simply start your shopping experience at smile.amazon.com and select The AthLife Foundation as the organization you support. Every time you buy something, Amazon will contribute .5% to The AthLife Foundation. How cool is that? And if you want to learn more about what you are supporting, watch this five-minute video.
Thanks a thousand for all your support. I hope at this time next year I’ll be thanking you a million.
Most sincerely,
Jon Harris
Founder/President
AthLife and The AthLife Foundation
