Playmakers Honor former Husker at event

Playmakers Mentoring Foundation’s Legends third annual recognition dinner and auction drew 165 guests and raised $13,500 on March 24 at the DC Centre.
Former Husker and Green Bay Packer Calvin Jones was honored at the event. Continue reading →

On April 10, Coach Paul Limongi, Head Football Coach at Burke High School, was awarded United Way’s Leadership Award for his outstanding service to Omaha’s youth. Over the past three years, Coach Limongi, our Captain’s Club Instructor, has taught over 150 high school football players from five of our area’s high schools how to mentor a middle school child. He also has consistently taken his football team to the State Championship, but Coach Limongi isn’t just about winning. He is all about our Playmakers’ values of character, leadership and family ~ that’s what he teaches, and that’s what he lives. Kudos to you, Coach Limongi! We are proud to be partnered with you.

OMAHA’S MARCH 24 LEGENDS RECOGNITION DINNER/AUCTION proved to be a special evening, as we honored former Husker & Green Bay Packer Calvin Jones, along with 15 of our Captains. Also attending was all-time great Tommie Frazier, and a special surprise – graduating senior Terrence Moore. Captain Johnny Murray and his pup, Denzel, did a great job telling about their mentoring relationship. We were so proud to have John & Viv Ewing as Honorary Chairs for the evening. John is Douglas County Treasurer here in NE and a soon-to-be Congressman. John was given a Playmakers’ helmet at the dinner. Gail DeBoer, President & CEO of SAC Federal Credit Union, received Playmakers’ first Founders Award in recognition of her continuing support in helping us create “uncommon men.” All in all, the evening was a huge success.

Everyone had a great time at SACRAMENTO’S MARCH 31 ANNUAL CRAB FEED & AUCTION, and our Captains were amazing. Rancho Cordova’s Mayor (David Sanders) spoke; former 49ers, Raiders, and college players, as well as current New York Jet Garrett McIntyre were in the house of over 300 guests. And to top it off, we had a great time honoring Loreto Garza. We’ll all remember the evening for a long time.

On March 29, 32 Captains completed their training and left with a training manual and a pup to mentor. Our Captains came up with some great ideas about how they can enrich their mentoring relationship. Enthusiasm ran high throughout the evening. It was easy to see these fine young men are going to make a difference.

Then click on this short video!

CORDOVA RECREATION & PARK DISTRICT TEAMS UP WITH PLAYMAKERS

Playmakers is proud to have found a home with CRPD in Rancho Cordova. CRPD has given Playmakers a classroom, fields, and access to its resources so we can offer free tackle football to kids and families who cannot afford the cost to play.
Over 30 kids are participating in afterschool academic tutoring and core values mentoring before going out onto the field for football fundamentals taught by a variety of volunteer coaches. Playmakers anticipates having over 100 kids and families participating by Spring.
We are so grateful to CRPD for its vision in giving Playmakers a home. Playmakers and CRPD co-host a free monthly pancake breakfast called “Second Saturday” that includes bringing in various resources from the community. The first breakfast had over 80 kids and parents in attendance.

Here is what the Grapevine Independent Online Newspaper had to say about Playmakers last week:

“Any parent with children involved in activities knows the expenses can add up. Most sports have a registration fee, often include special equipment like bats or cleats and items like gloves, wristbands, snacks, with Gatorade and eye-black piled on for good measure.

Throw a second or third child into the mix and a hundred bucks or so can quickly grow to a hefty expense. For youth football, this burden is often magnified as youth leagues need to provide proper safety equipment for players of differing ages and sizes – which adds up quickly.

A locally-based group called Playmakers has come up with a simple solution for this expense: get someone else to pay it. The group’s director, former NFLer Greg Roeszler, said Playmakers is slowly building a base of business partners interested in the group’s goals and, come Fall, should have enough financial support to offer a full youth football program at no cost to the participants. Continue reading →