These guys had a chance to make Valentine’s Day a little bit brighter for a group of kids at a local hospital. Instead of sleeping in, or playing video games, or whatever else high school boys do on a Saturday morning, they decided to go pass out Valentine’s Day gifts to kids from 5 weeks to 15 years old. Each of the patients has a different struggle, but they are all in the same place, fighting for the same thing…Life.
Traveling room to room on the Pediatric Cardiac Floor, the athletes introduced themselves, told the patient who they were, what NG3 was, and gave a small gift. The faces of the little ones were priceless! Overwhelmed a little by the mere size of the football players, you would have thought they were NFL players by the reactions of some of the patients. One of the 10-year-old boys was at first surprised, then shocked, then a little skeptical. “How do you know me? How did you know I was here? How did you know my name?” he asked. “Because you’re famous” one of the players responded, “Everybody knows who you are!” (His name was on the door). The boy, whose spirits seemed eternally lifted, then proceeded to follow the guys through the hall, slapping them with his blow-up sword, bent over laughing the whole time, knowing his newfound heroes would just keep smiling and taking every blow. And the players did, loving every minute of it.
A nurse came up to one of the players as the group was walking down the hall and asked if she could talk to him for a minute. She told him that one of her teenaged boys was having a rough day and hadn’t cracked a smile since she got there. The guys went into his room, offered him a candy-filled Nike water bottle, and talked with him for a few minutes. Afterwards, the nurse said the young man couldn’t stop smiling. He kept saying, “I can’t believe they would give up their Saturday to come see us. I just can’t believe they would do that. That’s so cool.”
NG3 is committed to making more of these moments happen, connecting local students with areas, and people, in need. Whether it is stocking shelves, hanging out with a special needs student, feeding the less fortunate, or passing out small gifts during Valentine’s Day, our young people need to grow up with the mindset that serving others is the secret to a full life, not what they can acquire for themselves, or how much money they have.
If you want to join with NG3 in building selfless men and women of character, attend NG3’s Faith In Sports Banquet presented by Akin’s Ford on March 28. Featuring keynote speaker, former UGA quarterback and NFL hopeful, Hutson Mason, this fund-raising event is a great way to find out more about all of the life-changing ways NG3 is making a difference in our communities.
Visit ng3.org/banquet for your tickets, today!
Together….we can Be the difference!
Interested in finding out more about what NG3 is doing to make a difference in the Next Generation or how you can help? Go to http://www.ng3.co. NG3 is a non-profit 501(c)3 independently funded by donors like you!!
NG3
P.O. Box 1429
Snellville, GA 30078
http://www.ng3.co
Archer HS
Thomas Jannett – Chaplain, Community Coach
Berkmar HS
Javier Muñoz – Character Coach, Community Coach
Brookwood HS
Matt Williams – NG3 Director Chaplain, Community Coach
Grayson HS
Dustin Mattox – Chaplain, Community Coach
South Gwinnett HS
Michael Woelfl – Chaplain
Community Development
Jon Stinchcomb
jon@ng3.co
NG3 stands for Next Generation: Character Community Change. Their goal is to develop men and women of character to create a positive change in our communities. NG3 works directly with student athletes in high schools, teaching and practicing the importance of strong core values like responsibility, humility, integrity and honesty. The staff of NG3 works along side the coaches employed by the school, providing a constant presence of reliability and service.
