RETIRED PLAYERS NEWS

Dallas Chapter Builds Holiday House

BY GLENDALYN JUNIO

BEFORE

AFTER

As part of their annual Holiday House program, members of the NFLPA Retired Players Dallas Chapter recently extended their helping hands to resurrect the condemned home of a 71-year-old disabled woman in West Dallas. The Chapter, which partners with the City of Dallas Department of Housing People Helping People initiative, has been building new homes for disadvantaged families in their community since 1997. As a chapter we wanted to look at what we could do to help. A lot of people have golf tournaments where you raise money for a particular charity, but then you dont get immediate results, Chapter Vice President and former Kansas City linebacker Ken Jolly said. We wanted something that would unfold under our eyes, something you could see. For this years event, the group donated their time and energy to build a new home for Georgia Freeman, a retired school bus driver who raised ve children in the same house over the last 45 years. During that time, the house slowly fell into disrepair due to a leaking and collapsing roof, and the structure was deemed a hazard after the city determined the cost of repairs would exceed replacement.

Typically we have always tried to focus on families with children, but this particular woman touched us, Jolly said. She raised ve kids and half of the other kids in the neighborhood, so we felt that she needed the help. After a fall 18 years ago, Freeman had trouble moving around the house and was forced to rely on a cane and wheelchair to get around. But her new home, which was the 11th house built by the Chapter, was designed to be completely wheelchair-accessible. In order to accommodate the hefty expense needed to complete the project, the retired players tapped into a federal grant provided to the recipient through the city and received contributions from generous architects, engineers, construction workers and building-material companies. Spearheaded by former Philadelphia punter and custom homebuilder John Teltschik, the Chapters members then turned to charitable contractors and laborers to help convert the dilapidated structure into a dream home. Over a span of three days in mid-November, the dedicated group of former players and a number of volunteers donned their

hard hats and went to work, erecting the structure and lling it with new appliances from dawn until dusk. I think that giving back to the community in a positive matter is at the heart of what we are all about, Jolly added. From a standpoint of an organization of retired players, there are a lot of guys who are interested in the benets, like Whats in it for me? Here, the leaders of this chapter want to change that focus to How can I help?

MEMBERS OF THE DALLAS RETIRED PLAYERS CHAPTER

PAGE 38 WINTER 2009