I went to the Winners for Life Foundation Sports Gala Thursday, saw lots of friends and had lots of fun.
Donny Anderson, former NFL great with the Green Bay Packers, hosted the event and got plenty of his NFL Alumni friends to join in the raising of funds to provide scholarships for area college students.
knows the value of education. He learned it from his father. Now he tries to pass on that lesson to anyone who will listen. He not only teaches the values of education, he also puts his efforts and money behind it through his Winners for Life Foundation. What’s different about the scholarships offered through WFL is the qualifications. They are not required to have the best grades; but they have to be in need of the financial help.
For the past four years, Anderson's foundation has brought close to $30,000 each year to Grayson County students in the form of college scholarships. Three of those students spoke to the crowd gathered at the Dallas Convention Center Thursday to say thank you for an opportunity to have a future. They are all Grayson County students.
Brianna Mundine, of Sherman, said she was nervous before ascending to the stage to say her thank yous. "I just prayed about it and did fine, but I was glad it was over," she said. While on stage Mundine credited her grandparents with providing a home for her. Her early life was filled with strife, which included drugs, in the lives of her parents. Her father, she said, has been in jail most of her life, and her mother also spent two years in jail. She said she never felt really loved as a young child. By age 16, Brianna was pregnant and by 17 she had a baby, a full-time job and was a full-time student.
"I actually thought I would not be able to go to college," Mundine said. "The money from Winners for Life is making the difference for me."
The young woman whose degree plan includes psychology and sociology, plans to work with teenage mothers. "I've been through pretty much everything you can touch in a troubled home," Mundine said. "I do feel like anyone coming from any circumstance can overcome any obstacle (as I did) with God in my life. Since I converted my life He (God) has made a way for me."
Mundine said teenage mothers need to hear her encouraging story to know there is a way to a better life.
Joanna Ramirez of Denison also plans to use her past to help people in her future. She is also attending college on a Winners for Life scholarship. She plans a degree in psychology and then she wants to enter the military and attend law school. Her practice, she says, will be in family law because she believes she can make a valuable contribution.
Ramirez told the folks at the sports gala that as a young child, a closet was the only place she found to hold safety for her. As she choked back her tears, she described her time in the closet and told of how she heard the screams of her mother being beaten by her father. This continued until she was about 13 and when she told of how she and her brother finally got the courage to stand up to their father, spontaneous applause filled the room.
Ramirez explained that she would not be in college except for the help from Winners for Life. "Getting this scholarship shows me there is somebody out there who cares," she said. "It's more than just the money. It's knowing that people who don't know me are willing to help me better myself. It's better for all of us, for the community."
Anderson credits his football career and his association with Vince Lombardi for learning the value of giving back to his community. He partnered with retired teacher Linkie Seltzer Cohn in 1996 to write a book of encouragement for young people titled "Winners for Life" and its impact led to the creation of the WFL Foundation.
Check out the foundation’s Web site at www.wflfoundation.org.
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