While at Florida, Mr. Tebow became well known for spending his summers helping . . .
. . . the poor and needy in the Philippines. He also spoke in prisons and appeared to accept every opportunity to volunteer. He encouraged his teammates and classmates to follow his lead.
[After] he won the Heisman Trophy in 2007, he had the idea to use his fame to raise money for the orphanage that his family runs and for other organizations. Since National Collegiate Athletic Association rules prevented him from raising money for his own causes, he work with the university to found a student soceity that coule be used for charity.
According to the former Forida coach Urban Meyer, Mr. Tebow's philanthrophic efforts reshaped campus culture, and for a time, volunteering became fashionable. In his senior year, the powder-puff football tournament that he launched, with the help of the university's sororities and fraternities, raised $340,000 for charity.
Mr. Tebow's acts of goodwill have often been more intimate. In December 2009, he attended a college-football awards ceremony in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The night before, at another gala at Walt Disney World Resort, he met a 20-year-old-college-football fan named Kelly Faughnan, a brain-tumor victim who suffered from hearing loss and visibile, continual tremors. She was wearing a button that said "I love Timmy." Someone noticed and made sure that the young woman had a chance to meet the player.
Mr. Tebow spent a long while with Ms. Faughnan an dher family, and asked her if she'd like to be his date for the award ceremony the following night. She agreed, and the scene of Mr. Tebow escorting the trembling young woman down the red carpet led much of the reporting about the event.
(Patton Dodd, "God's Quarterback: The Tim Tebow Phenomenon," Wall Street Journal, December 10, 2011)
You and I can't give like Tim Tebow, but we can give like our better selves. Let's do it again this Saturday. You pick your own beneficiary. Then write the check, hug your kids, and do something fun.
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