Super Bowl week about giving back
If ever there is a time for a community to show its most vibrant colors, it’s when the national spotlight is shining brightly upon it. Indianapolis has an unparalleled opportunity to prove the incredible depth of that legendary Hoosier hospitality as it serves as host city for Super Bowl XLVI. This is not just about hosting a game – it’s about showing America the true heart that thrives in the heartland.
While thousands of fans pack Lucas Oil Stadium, countless children will be watching the big game from hospital beds. The medical challenges they are facing can be overwhelming and frightening. It takes more than medicine to heal a child. Children and their families need to be nourished mentally, emotionally and spiritually.
That’s why I am joining with Riley Children’s Foundation and Basket of Hope in sending Super Baskets of Hope to hospitalized children in each of America’s 32 NFL cities. With the help of many generous sponsors, NFL players, coaches and other volunteers will be delivering 7,000 baskets filled with inspiring and comforting gifts. Those baskets are being assembled by more than 900 volunteers in Indianapolis then delivered throughout the country this week.
Through the Basket of Hope program, I witnessed the incredible fight and resolve of kids at Riley Hospital for Children. I came to deliver baskets and lift their spirits. But I left feeling inspired by the strength of these children and their families.
No Super Bowl host city has ever attempted a community service project with this type of nationwide reach. But I am not surprised that Indianapolis is the first. As you’re preparing to watch the Super Bowl, I encourage everyone to visit www.superbasketsofhope.org and show the world that the Super Bowl really is about more than a game.
TONY DUNGY Former coach, Indianapolis Colts
Fort4Fitness offers tools for change
With any New Year come the requisite resolutions, many centering on a healthier you. Many New Year’s resolutions fail to achieve their stated goal or all too often get hijacked by our busy lives.
Recognizing this dire need for health improvement, Fort 4 Fitness is introducing “One Year, One Healthy Change.” Fort 4 Fitness formed the “4 Your Health” initiative.
Fort4Fitness 4YourHealth is introducing “One Year, One Healthy Change,” focusing on the fact that small changes over time can and will have a huge effect on our overall health and quality of life. This exciting program will kick off Feb. 7 at the Allen County Public Library downtown branch at 7 p.m. in Meeting Room A.
“One Year One Healthy Change” also provides you with all the tools to get you started and keep you tracking toward your goal of a healthier you in 2012. Our goal is to give everyone, regardless of age, income or current health, tools to finally achieve that New Year’s resolution.
Information on “One Year, One Healthy Change,” along with a virtual cornucopia of health- and wellness-related topics, can be obtained for free by visiting www.fort4fitness.org/4yourhealth. You have nothing to lose except those extra pounds and maybe that tired old New Year’s resolution.
Come on, Fort Wayne, let’s show the world who we really are and commit to making our city the “thinnest” and healthiest in the nation. Come join us on our journey, take our pledge to make small changes and let’s lead the way to a healthier future.
DR. MARK O’SHAUGHNESSY Parkview Physicians Group Cardiology
Restore America’s traditional values
I want to thank you for having the guts to print James Metzler’s letter (“Liberals: Love America or leave it now,” Dec. 18). I want to applaud Metzler for writing the truth.
I have wanted to say those things to a large number of people to hopefully wake them up. I will never understand the progressive/left winger mindset. I love my country, and I want it to return to the republic it is supposed to be. I will do whatever it takes to get it back that way.
We need to go back to several of the laws from the 1920s, ’30s, and ’40s. Those laws were established to protect our freedom, and I do not think people understand what our freedom even means, and how it would feel if they did not have half the freedoms they have today.
I did not know that any article written by a conservative-thinking person would be considered for print. Especially after the first tea party protest in Fort Wayne, the tea party could not obtain any more permits. The tea party people protest with American flags and in a peaceful manner. No one has read about any tea party members starting any violence, but at the union protests, there have been several violent events happen.
DINA JENKINS Columbia City
