Players from the Desert Hills Football team load bags of donated clothes into a semi-truck to be taken to the I Won't Cheat Foundation, Desert Hills Football Charity Fundraiser, St. George, Utah, Aug. 15, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
ST. GEORGE — Southern Utah’s community is one that is becoming known for its philanthropic ways.
The Desert Hills football program is a classic example. The Thunder went on a clothing drive to benefit the “I Won’t Cheat” program, which distributes the goods to needy families in Guatemala. The players were asked to collect and gather usable clothing, shoes and bedding.
“Things turned out pretty well,” Desert Hills coach Carl Franke said. “We filled up that trailer top to bottom so that it was bulging at the seams.”
The charity event, which also served as a bit of a fundraiser for the team, was a smashing success. The trailer Franke referenced was a 50-footer loaned by Andrus Transportation for the event. (See ed. note) The final tally was staggering as the players and coaches (and their families) gathered 35,000 pounds of goods, which will be hauled to California where it is weighed, sorted and cleaned. From there, the clothes donated by DHHS will travel to Guatemala to be given to the poor and needy.
“I really believe this is important for these kids, who have a lot of good things in their lives, to give back,” Franke said. “One of the players, Gavin Young, had done this up in Riverton with the youth leagues there. We saw it as an opportunity to do something good, plus in this instance we also got paid a little bit of money to help with our program. It was a great opportunity and it worked out well.”
Franke said he sees a lot of charity work throughout the region by football teams and schools.
“What’s cool is a lot of coaches try to give back,” he said. “I know Pine View and Dixie both have something they do every year. It’s about the kids and what we are teaching them.”
The “I won’t cheat” program was founded by former Major League All-Star Dale Murphy and carries the motto, “Injecting ethics into America’s future.” Murphy, a two-time MVP and five-time Gold Glove center fielder with the Atlanta Braves, has strong ties to Utah, though he grew up in Portland, Ore. His 10-year old IWC foundation is nationally recognized. Murphy, a member of the LDS faith, was often ridiculed in the Majors for not participating in the “baseball lifestyle,” which often included drinking, carousing and drug use.
Brian Young, Gavin’s dad, is the man responsible for introducing the idea to the team. Young estimates that the boys collected over 1,400 bags totaling approximately 35,000 pounds of clothing, shoes, coats, and bedding items. He estimates that this will raise $7,000 – $9,000 to help the team pay for some of the expenses of the football program.
Shanna Hoppie contributed to this report.
Ed. note: Business name corrected.
Players from the Desert Hills Football team load bags of donated clothes into a semi-truck to be taken to the I Won't Cheat Foundation, Desert Hills Football Charity Fundraiser, St. George, Utah, Aug. 15, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Players from the Desert Hills Football team load bags of donated clothes into a semi-truck to be taken to the I Won't Cheat Foundation, Desert Hills Football Charity Fundraiser, St. George, Utah, Aug. 15, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Players from the Desert Hills Football team load bags of donated clothes into a semi-truck to be taken to the I Won't Cheat Foundation, Desert Hills Football Charity Fundraiser, St. George, Utah, Aug. 15, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Players from the Desert Hills Football team load bags of donated clothes into a semi-truck to be taken to the I Won't Cheat Foundation, Desert Hills Football Charity Fundraiser, St. George, Utah, Aug. 15, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Players from the Desert Hills Football team load bags of donated clothes into a semi-truck to be taken to the I Won't Cheat Foundation, Desert Hills Football Charity Fundraiser, St. George, Utah, Aug. 15, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Players from the Desert Hills Football team load bags of donated clothes into a semi-truck to be taken to the I Won't Cheat Foundation, Desert Hills Football Charity Fundraiser, St. George, Utah, Aug. 15, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Players from the Desert Hills Football team load bags of donated clothes into a semi-truck to be taken to the I Won't Cheat Foundation, Desert Hills Football Charity Fundraiser, St. George, Utah, Aug. 15, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Thunder Head Coach Carl Franke poses on a mountain of donated clothes to be taken to the I Won't Cheat Foundation, Desert Hills Football Charity Fundraiser, St. George, Utah, Aug. 15, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Players from the Desert Hills Football team load bags of donated clothes into a semi-truck to be taken to the I Won't Cheat Foundation, Desert Hills Football Charity Fundraiser, St. George, Utah, Aug. 15, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Players from the Desert Hills Football team load bags of donated clothes into a semi-truck to be taken to the I Won't Cheat Foundation, Desert Hills Football Charity Fundraiser, St. George, Utah, Aug. 15, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Players from the Desert Hills Football team load bags of donated clothes into a semi-truck to be taken to the I Won't Cheat Foundation, Desert Hills Football Charity Fundraiser, St. George, Utah, Aug. 15, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Players from the Desert Hills Football team load bags of donated clothes into a semi-truck to be taken to the I Won't Cheat Foundation, Desert Hills Football Charity Fundraiser, St. George, Utah, Aug. 15, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Players from the Desert Hills Football team load bags of donated clothes into a semi-truck to be taken to the I Won't Cheat Foundation, Desert Hills Football Charity Fundraiser, St. George, Utah, Aug. 15, 2015, | Photo by Robert Hoppie, ASPpix.com, St. George News
Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Andy Griffin has been in sports media since 1989 and has covered BYU, Utah State and the Utah Jazz as well as all sports in southern Utah. A journalism graduate of USU, Andy has carried on a dual career as both a sports writer and a sports broadcaster and has been heard around the country. He has also been published in USA Today, Sport magazine, The Sporting News, Fairways magazine, the Los Angeles Times and locally in the Deseret News, the Salt Lake Tribune and the Spectrum. Andy was “The Voice of Region 9 sports,” for many years. He also hosted a daily sports talk show for three years called AG in the a.m.
Andy has been married to his college sweetheart Shelly for 28 years and has five children ages 13 to 25.
Maybe he doesn’t care what you think about the way he wears his hat.. maybe you should try taking some time and donate to the less fortunate than you instead of complaining about the way somebody wears a hat
It is a 53′ foot trailer loaned by Andrus TRANSPORTATION (not Trailers).
Thank you. Correction has been made.
Maybe they should have reached into one of those bags and gave the shirtless boy a shirt to wear. Then again, he can’t even wear his hat properly.
LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOL!!! ARE U FOR REAL? U SPEND ALL DAY WHINING ABOUT TRIVIAL THINGS OR WHAT???? U MORMON???
You know she is. LOL.!
Maybe HE gave the shirt off his back for the cause. Don’t judge… And yes this is coming from a Mormon!
Maybe he doesn’t care what you think about the way he wears his hat.. maybe you should try taking some time and donate to the less fortunate than you instead of complaining about the way somebody wears a hat
Ahh…Benihana, shirt or no shirt, thanks to you and all your D-Hills brothers and coaches for taking time to help others with your actions and deeds.
It’s part of the life lessons that you can learn through sports and camaraderie.