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The influence of sports and the platform that athletes and coaches have is tremendous in our society. We are captivated by sports!听 uses this influence to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ and to encourage positive character traits such as integrity, serving, teamwork and excellence.听

鈥淲e live in a sports-crazy society where athletes have the chance to be role models and tone-setters.听 I look at the world of professional sports, where I鈥檝e spent so many years, and I see that today it鈥檚 out of bounds.听 FCA is hard at work becoming the heart and soul in sports.听 We want to put Christian character back between the lines鈥he potential to influence lives for Christ through FCA is boundless.鈥� 鈥� Les Steckel, FCA President/CEO in his book One Yard Short

Sports provide an opportunity for learning, growth and character development.听Young athletes in today鈥檚 society face challenging situations such as win-at-all-cost attitudes, anger management, attitudes of entitlement, and self-worth based on win-loss records. Add to that the challenges of navigating home, social and school relationships, and the pressures can seem insurmountable. Some athletes will successfully navigate these situations. Others may turn to risky behavior to escape.听 FCA is here to come alongside coaches and athletes in their daily lives with encouragement and resources.听 We focus on the 4 C鈥檚 of ministry: Camps, Campus, Coaches and Community.听 Our hope is to instill the core values of Integrity, Serving, Teamwork and Excellence in young athletes and their coaches.听 FCA鈥檚 vision is 鈥渢o see the world impacted for Jesus Christ through the influence of coaches and athletes.鈥�

Investing in FCA is Investing in the Youth of Today

Through FCA, coaches and students in the US and around the world are experiencing a deeper relationship with Christ and others.听 Additionally, many individuals are growing in their personal faith, developing leadership skills and learning to share their faith in the classroom and on the playing field.听

Investing in FCA is investing in the youth of today, including the influence they will have today and for years to come. As a donor, you can support FCA by donating to Fellowship of Christian Athletes through your employer鈥檚 workplace giving program听(CFC# 10987 if you’re a military or federal employee participating in the Combined Federal Campaign).听Payroll pledges made through employer-sponsored charitable giving programs represent a cost effective and near effortless way to support FCA鈥檚 work. Every donation matters!听 $10 can provide a Bible for a coach or athlete, while $100 can change the life of a student athlete by providing them with a partial scholarship to sports camp.

As an employer, you can leverage the collective giving power of your employees by starting a workplace giving program to support FCA.听Click here to learn more about 精东影业鈥檚 Charities鈥� portfolio of solutions designed to help large and small organizations give back to the causes they care about.

To learn more about FCA, visit .听

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A white man and apartheid admirer walked into a black church Wednesday night and killed nine people. He reportedly said he had 鈥渢o do it鈥� because black people 鈥渞ape our women鈥� and are 鈥渢aking over our country.鈥�

The violent attack against Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., is an obvious hate crime, one that will, presumably, get reported to the FBI.

The vast majority of hate crimes, though, don鈥檛.听Our national system of collecting and reporting this data is disturbingly inadequate, overlooking most hate crimes each year. This underreporting is a problem because, lacking an understanding of the scope of the problem, law enforcement agencies and communities are less likely to devote the sustained resources and training needed to prevent and solve hate crimes.

According to the FBI鈥檚 most recent annual hate crime report, which is based on voluntary reporting by law enforcement agencies across the country,听. In South Carolina, the FBI report says, there were 51. Those numbers vastly underestimate the problem, according to the Department of Justice鈥檚 Bureau of Statistics.听

>> Support SPLC to Help Fight Hate Crimes

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Central Washington first baseman Mallory Holtman reportedly asked the umpire if she and her teammates could help Tucholsky. The umpire said yes, so Holtman and shortstop Liz Wallace put their arms under Tucholsky鈥檚 legs, and Tucholsky put her arms over their shoulders. The three rounded the bases, stopping only to let Tucholsky touch each bag with her uninjured leg.

鈥淭he only thing I remember is that Mallory asked me which leg was the one that hurt,鈥� Tucholsky said in a story from FOX Sports on MSN. 鈥淚 told her it was my right leg and she said, 鈥極K, we鈥檙e going to drop you down gently and you need to touch it with your left leg.鈥欌�� Added Wallace: 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 know that she was a senior or that this was her first home run. That makes the story more touching than it was.

We just wanted to help her.鈥� Holtman told FOX Sports that she and Wallace weren鈥檛 thinking about the playoff spot, and didn鈥檛 consider the gesture something special. 鈥淚 hope I would do the same for her in the same situation,鈥� Tucholsky said.

Kindness is defined as demonstrating a gentle, sympathetic attitude towards others, and it is a rare quality. That鈥檚 what makes stories like that one so unique.

>> Support Fellowship of Christian Athletes

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After working in real estate in Chicago for more than 20 years, Ford suffered a heart attack one year ago. The setback rescaled his life鈥檚 priorities and inspired him to become a stable presence for athletes in the city who were restless in a father鈥檚 absence. A need to give back nestled into his reshaped heart.

As a former football player at Geneseo High School in Illinois and Augustana College, Ford was provided with a stable coaching staff which was paramount in his character and spiritual development.

He began coaching on the football field at North Lawndale College Preparatory High School in the inner city of Chicago, assisting linebackers and pouring into his athletes during the consistent time spent with them.听Many of the kids come from homes without a father figure,听so a coach evolves more into that role.

In the windfall of a real estate transaction, Lasalle Street Church had received a significant amount of money and decided to reverse tithe, giving $500 to each member to do good works in their sphere of influence鈥攁 Kingdom investment. When Ford鈥攚ho鈥檚 attended for more than 20 years鈥攔eceived his portion, he went to the Lord in prayer. Through that and assessing his current role as a coach, he knew the best use of the money would be to start a Huddle at North Lawndale.

鈥淚t was one of those unique things that a church would give back to its members and challenge them to make a difference for the Kingdom,鈥� Greater Chicago Area FCA Representative Jim Johanik said. 鈥淎nd that was Chris鈥檚 manifestation of that challenge, to invest in something that gave him the most degree of life change as a youth.鈥�

>> Support Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA)

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Of course, Don McClanen was just trying to honor another Son of a carpenter who came from humble beginnings. By doing so, McClanen鈥檚 vision turned into a movement that has lasted 60 years and become known as 鈥渢he heart and soul in sports.鈥�

That vision became reality when the Fellowship of Christian Athletes was founded in 1954, but not before seven years filled with prayer and petition by McClanen, who had first entertained the idea of launching an organization after joining a panel discussing 鈥淢aking My Vocation Christian.鈥� A young basketball coach, McClanen wondered why athletes endorsed products, but not a Christian lifestyle.

At the same time, McClanen鈥攚hose dad was a carpenter before the Great Depression鈥攚as clipping articles from magazines about well-known Christian athletes, a practice he continued for several years. One of those articles was about Dr. Louis H. Evans, a former basketball player at Occidental College who had been featured in a听LIFE听magazine article listing 精东影业鈥檚 Top 10 clergymen.

During a chance meeting with Evans, McClanen shared his vision. 鈥淚f athletes can endorse shaving cream, razor blades and cigarettes,鈥� he told him, 鈥渟urely they can endorse the Lord.鈥� Evans encouraged him to write letters to the men featured in those old clippings.

>> Donate to Fellowship of Christian Athletes

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Passed in 1968, the Fair Housing Act is one of the major legislative victories of the civil rights movement. It has helped rid our country of the most overt forms of housing discrimination, such as building single-race housing developments and using lending maps that demarcated black neighborhoods as mortgage-free zones.

But discrimination hasn’t gone away 鈥� instead, it has subtly morphed, preventing us from creating truly diverse communities.

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In the spring of 2013, FCA leaders at Scullen Middle School shared their legacy in the likes of a video emulating the popular I Am Second ministry series.

Today, as high school sophomores, they still look upon their middle school years as a season of growth and cultivation, impacted through their former school鈥檚 FCA.

The Huddle used the popular I Am Second videos as small group discussions and found coinciding Scripture and devotionals as tools for further guidance. The weekly meetings encouraged students to live a real and honest faith, creating a safe spot to share struggles and dig deeper with one another.

鈥淚n a place like school where you don鈥檛 really get to express your opinions, we felt like everyone wasn鈥檛 afraid to show what really mattered and how much God impacted their lives,鈥� Callie Vitro, one of Scullen鈥檚 Huddle leaders, said.

Vitro and fellow leader Rachel Ingal wanted to do something at the end of the year to show appreciation to the ministry that moved their faith.

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The video below presents FCA鈥檚 history and culture, since its inception in 1954 until now. And, while FCA was first incorporated in 1954, that date came seven long years after God placed a dream in the heart of a young basketball coach in Oklahoma to start an organization that would feature professional athletes professing their Christian faith in order to change the youth culture in 精东影业. It has been called 鈥淕od鈥檚 amazing, miraculous dream,鈥� by Don McClanen, the young coach who allowed God to stir up a movement that would change the lives of countless coaches and athletes over the next six decades through his dream.

>> Learn More about FCA and donate

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Tim Howard is hard to miss. After all, he鈥檚 a 6-3, 210-pound goalkeeper who became the face of the U.S. men鈥檚 national soccer team prior to this summer鈥檚 FIFA World Cup. He sports a full, dark beard, menacing brown eyes, a shaved head and鈥攑erhaps not as noticeable for those unfamiliar with him鈥攁n upper body teeming with tattoos.

Howard鈥檚 first ink came when he was 16, a Superman symbol branded on his right biceps. Since then, he鈥檚 added so many tattoos now blanketing his torso and arms that he鈥檚 literally lost count. Let鈥檚 just say that, over the past few years, his frame has become a work of art.

Yes, Timothy Matthew Howard is comfortable in his own skin. But that hasn鈥檛 always been the case.

In a time and place far away from his current home in England, long before Howard became a worldwide sports celebrity and the starting goalkeeper for Team USA, Howard was just another boy growing up in the blue-collar community of North Brunswick, N.J. But young Tim had some strange behavioral tics. His mother researched his symptoms and took him to specialists to determine his condition. Back then, with little research available, the initial diagnosis was mere hyperactivity. Eventually, however, doctors discovered Howard had Tourette Syndrome, a neurological disorder that causes a person to make repeated, quick movements and sounds that they cannot control.

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Thank you to everyone who participated in the Do More 24 day of giving event. 听Thanks to you, just over $1 million was raised and will help our nonprofits and people in the local DC metro community.

If you didn’t get a chance to participate or would like to donate more, we encourage you to shop 精东影业’s Charities list of 140+ member charities. You can search through our listing using our “cause”, “location”, and “federation” filters. 听If you search using the federation filter, select “Community First” to view charities devoted to helping the DC metro region. 听Click here to get started!

Do More 24, scheduled to take place on June 19, is a local “day of giving” movement that encourages donors to contribute to the causes and organizations closest to their hearts to solve the Greater Washington DC region’s most pressing challenges.

Last year it successfully raised more than $1.3 million dollars for more than 500 participating nonprofit organizations throughout Washington, DC, Northern Virginia, and Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties in Maryland.听

Supportive of efforts that engage the community in giving, 精东影业’s Charities is a听Do More 24 Community Partner. While our primary focus is on driving donations through workplace giving and employee engagement programs, which generate unrestricted sustainable dollars for charity, we believe Do More 24 is a unique way for individuals to be part of the giving process and support their local community.

How Can You Participate?

On June 19, 2014, visit , make a donation to your favorite nonprofit(s), and encourage your friends and family to do the same. 听Plus, support local nonprofits by checking out Do More 24 restaurant promotions and special events near you at .

Support 精东影业’s Charities members through Do More 24:

Why support our members? 听精东影业鈥檚 Charities is your source for discovering and connecting with charities nationally and locally. We are accredited by the Better Business Bureaus Wise Giving Alliance and a GuideStar Exchange Partner. Our 501(c)(3) charity members are reviewed annually and must meet specific eligibility criteria before they鈥檙e approved for membership. We have have 140+ members, 27 of which are solely devoted to supporting the DC metro region. 听Of those 27, the charities listed below are participating in Do More 24. 听For a complete list of our members and to learn more about their impact in the community, .

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