This was in my Sunday paper here in NY. Everyone knows Kurt has a big heart and its a story we has Cards fans have heard many times but in my opinion it never gets old to see how much Kurt and Brenda give back.
http://www.usaweekend.com/09_issues/091122/091122kurt-warner.html
Kurt Warner: NFL quarterback with heart
This year's winner went from grocery clerk with a dream to football fame. But that's all dwarfed by his good deeds off the field.
By Dennis McCafferty
Brenda and Kurt Warner's foundation emphasizes family and faith.
You meet a beautiful woman named Brenda in a country music bar, and she tells you that she's divorced with two kids. Instead of running away, you show up the next day on her doorstep, a rose in hand. You ask to meet her children, one of whom has special needs. But that pushes you forward, not away. You commit yourself to this family. When her parents are killed in a tornado that levels their home, you help her make sense of it.
All this time, you're trying to make it as a pro football player while stocking groceries at a Hy-Vee food store in Cedar Falls, Iowa. You play for a low-level Arena Football League team before getting a shot with the St. Louis Rams. But coaches scream at you after you misfire pass after pass. Teammates shake their heads in disgust. You start to question why you try at all, why everything in life seems to test your worthiness.
But when you're Kurt Warner, now the Arizona Cardinals' quarterback, you don't let challenges break you. You respond with an inner resolve time-tested through trying circumstances.
These episodes, Warner explains, were never easy. But they made him who he is today -- not only a Super Bowl champion, but also one of the most active NFL players on the charity front. For this reason, he is USA WEEKEND's 2009 Most Caring Athlete.
"Brenda's parents were killed, and I was struggling in football," Warner says of a dark time in 1996 that led to a spiritual renewal. "It seemed like everything was falling apart. So we simply put our lives in God's hands. That's when we felt comforted, not scared. Since then, we have sought to share ourselves and our faith and to touch other people's lives."
The Warners have stayed that course during their 12-year marriage. Through their First Things First foundation, they oversee a staggering range of outreach efforts. They've raised more than $675,000 for victims of last year's Midwest floods. Their most recent annual winter coat drive in St. Louis, where Warner won a Super Bowl for the Rams in 2000, brought in 15,000 donated coats. They've shipped hundreds of care packages to troops overseas, a project close to Brenda's heart (she's a former Marine).
This Christmas, the Warners and their seven kids will stuff more than 50 stockings with gift cards, coloring books and sunglasses, a family tradition. The whole group will personally deliver them to Sunshine Acres in greater Phoenix, a non-profit that takes in needy children. They've arranged to have 10 tons of snow delivered. "These kids have never seen snow," Warner says. "So we're going to have a snowball fight and show them what Christmas is all about!"
The couple also makes annual visits to Orlando, where they have hosted Disney World vacations for 65 seriously ill children and their immediate families. At the end of the most recent Disney week -- one filled with Aladdin-themed magic carpet rides and visits from Mickey Mouse -- Warner says goodbye to the kids and their families. "You are the light of the world," he tells them. "All of you have been just that to me this week. Now go out and share that."
Carly and Brian Magee of St. Louis have had two children -- Gabe, 12, and Ariel, 10 -- go to Disney World with the Warners. Those memories will last forever. "Whenever we're having a down day, Gabe will pull out a scrapbook and point to the pictures and say, ‘That's the time that I saved Kurt and Brenda from that big elephant!' " Carly says.
Warner's goodwill embraces a great range of needs, but he's motivated by his deep religious faith and makes no apologies for using his fame to energize his foundation and, in turn, reach more people with his Christian message. He stresses that his foundation is inclusive: "The main thing is to live your life the right way, by example, not by standing on a soapbox."
As for the future, the Warners have discussed life after football. He envisions becoming a minister, or a motivational speaker, or both. He certainly has a compelling story. "I constantly prepared for my chance," he says. "The fact that it took so long to get there? There was a reason: There had to be a humbling process, so that, by the time I got here, what I was doing was about far more than me."
http://www.usaweekend.com/09_issues/091122/091122kurt-warner.html
Kurt Warner: NFL quarterback with heart
This year's winner went from grocery clerk with a dream to football fame. But that's all dwarfed by his good deeds off the field.
By Dennis McCafferty
Brenda and Kurt Warner's foundation emphasizes family and faith.
You meet a beautiful woman named Brenda in a country music bar, and she tells you that she's divorced with two kids. Instead of running away, you show up the next day on her doorstep, a rose in hand. You ask to meet her children, one of whom has special needs. But that pushes you forward, not away. You commit yourself to this family. When her parents are killed in a tornado that levels their home, you help her make sense of it.
All this time, you're trying to make it as a pro football player while stocking groceries at a Hy-Vee food store in Cedar Falls, Iowa. You play for a low-level Arena Football League team before getting a shot with the St. Louis Rams. But coaches scream at you after you misfire pass after pass. Teammates shake their heads in disgust. You start to question why you try at all, why everything in life seems to test your worthiness.
But when you're Kurt Warner, now the Arizona Cardinals' quarterback, you don't let challenges break you. You respond with an inner resolve time-tested through trying circumstances.
These episodes, Warner explains, were never easy. But they made him who he is today -- not only a Super Bowl champion, but also one of the most active NFL players on the charity front. For this reason, he is USA WEEKEND's 2009 Most Caring Athlete.
"Brenda's parents were killed, and I was struggling in football," Warner says of a dark time in 1996 that led to a spiritual renewal. "It seemed like everything was falling apart. So we simply put our lives in God's hands. That's when we felt comforted, not scared. Since then, we have sought to share ourselves and our faith and to touch other people's lives."
The Warners have stayed that course during their 12-year marriage. Through their First Things First foundation, they oversee a staggering range of outreach efforts. They've raised more than $675,000 for victims of last year's Midwest floods. Their most recent annual winter coat drive in St. Louis, where Warner won a Super Bowl for the Rams in 2000, brought in 15,000 donated coats. They've shipped hundreds of care packages to troops overseas, a project close to Brenda's heart (she's a former Marine).
This Christmas, the Warners and their seven kids will stuff more than 50 stockings with gift cards, coloring books and sunglasses, a family tradition. The whole group will personally deliver them to Sunshine Acres in greater Phoenix, a non-profit that takes in needy children. They've arranged to have 10 tons of snow delivered. "These kids have never seen snow," Warner says. "So we're going to have a snowball fight and show them what Christmas is all about!"
The couple also makes annual visits to Orlando, where they have hosted Disney World vacations for 65 seriously ill children and their immediate families. At the end of the most recent Disney week -- one filled with Aladdin-themed magic carpet rides and visits from Mickey Mouse -- Warner says goodbye to the kids and their families. "You are the light of the world," he tells them. "All of you have been just that to me this week. Now go out and share that."
Carly and Brian Magee of St. Louis have had two children -- Gabe, 12, and Ariel, 10 -- go to Disney World with the Warners. Those memories will last forever. "Whenever we're having a down day, Gabe will pull out a scrapbook and point to the pictures and say, ‘That's the time that I saved Kurt and Brenda from that big elephant!' " Carly says.
Warner's goodwill embraces a great range of needs, but he's motivated by his deep religious faith and makes no apologies for using his fame to energize his foundation and, in turn, reach more people with his Christian message. He stresses that his foundation is inclusive: "The main thing is to live your life the right way, by example, not by standing on a soapbox."
As for the future, the Warners have discussed life after football. He envisions becoming a minister, or a motivational speaker, or both. He certainly has a compelling story. "I constantly prepared for my chance," he says. "The fact that it took so long to get there? There was a reason: There had to be a humbling process, so that, by the time I got here, what I was doing was about far more than me."
