NFL Star, Barry Cofield, Calls for Support for the Annual Golf Benefit

Northwestern University alumni and starting Defensive lineman of the New York Giants, Barry Cofield, will serve as the official Spokesman of the 2011 Cabrini Connections' Golf Benefit. After completing a very successful 2011 Year End Dinner, we are on to the next major event in the organization, the Annual Golf Benefit. The 2011 Cabrini Connections' Golf Benefit will be held Thursday, July 21, at Highland Park Country Club. This is one of the most important fund raisers of each year and we are looking for this year's event to be THE BEST one ever, and Barry and the Cabrini Connections' TEAM could use your help?

Mr. Cofield is a huge fan of youth and GIVING BACK to the community, and he has been a fan and supporter of the Cabrini Connections' program for several years now. In 2008 the Superbowl Champion Barry Cofield supported the Annual Golf Benefit by donating an autographed jersey to the silent action. And since that date, Barry has continued to follow highlights of the program and has continued to support the program in a variety of ways. After a recent visit to the program's facility in April, Mr. Cofield has since joined the Advisory Board and accepted a request to be the 2011 Golf Benefit Spokesman. Barry said, "I'm passionate about working with today's youth in order to make the future brighter, Cabrini Connections' is dedicated to the same goal and they are the best at what they do!"

Don't forget to visit the golf website and join the New York Giants', Barry Cofield and the Cabrini Connections' staff, by seeing how YOU can support the 2011 Golf Benefit and the Cabrini Connections' program. Barry Cofield recently stated that he will be in attendance at the golf benefit and is looking forward to assisting with the success of the event and with obtaining the necessary resources for the Cabrini Connections' program to be successful.

Barry Cofield at a Charity Basketball Game in Sandusky, OH.

The NFL Makes a Connection with Cabrini Connections

Starting Defensive Tackle for the Super Bowl 42 Champions, the New York Giants, #96 Barry Cofield autographed and donated this jersey to The annual Annual Jimmy Biggs Memorial Cabrini Connections Golf Benefit as a silent auction item. This generous donation by Mr. Cofield not only demonstrates his personal commitment to 'giving back' as an NFL player, but this notion also shows Mr. Cofield's support of the Cabrini Connections' program. Barry wrote, 'GOOD LUCK CABRINI CONNECTIONS!" This wish of good luck is as if the roles are reversed, meaning that Cabrini Connections is the 'team' and Barry Cofield is the 'fan' who is cheering his favorite team to a victory!

We here at Cabrini Connections want to thank Barry Cofield for this donation and for the support. Hopefully Barry Cofield and more athletes like himself will continue to support and 'cheer on' tutor/mentor programs like Cabrini Connections in an effort to provide the youth the tools they need to reach their dreams.

www.cabrinitmcgolf.org

Tis the Season for Giving

Over the past couple of weeks the Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection staff have been taking part in our annual Holiday mailer. The packages of information went to many past, current, and hopefully future Cabrini Connections' supporters. Our aim is to share a little more about what all we do here at Cabrini Connections with the youth and volunteers who participate in our program, and by sharing this information more and more people will be willing to support our program in various ways.

Beyond just the mailers that we sent out to the large group, the entire staff took different amounts for personal use. Individually, we all took some time to think of people in our own personal network that we felt would not only like to hear more about what we do, but could further support our program. Whether the support came from just spreading the word about Cabrini Connections to people in their network, donating a dollar or two, sharing other valuable resources, or all of the above.

On Monday night, I put my list together and these are the top 6 people that I came up with to send my personal mailers to. First and foremost, I sent a mailer to my mother Catherine Nix. Not just for the simple fact that my mother has always supported any and everything that I do, but she is so proud that I am dedicating my life to benefit others...and right I am dedicating my life to the Cabrini Connections' family.

The next person on my list was a good friend Rebecca Acosta. Rebecca is teacher in California and over the years we have continued to talk about ways in which we can better assist the students that we work with. I'm working with Chicago's inner-city youth and Becca is working with suburban youth in California. And although we work with two different populations, we are working towards the same goals and understand that necessary resources are needed for the students to reach those goals.

The four people rounding out my list are fellow NU alums and members of the NFL family. Barry Cofield(NY Giants), Jason Wright(Cleveland Browns), Trai Essex(Pittsburgh Steelers), and Noah Herron(former Green Bay Packers). I did not add these individuals to my mailing list for what seems obvious, the financial status. These four individuals were added because of the conversations that we had at one time or another about doing what we can to give back and what others provided us on our road to Northwestern University and our respective careers. Each and every person on this list, including myself, did not get to where we are now without the help of others, and by knowing, understanding, and believing this fact we are know how important it is for us to do the same for those following in our footsteps!

By these guys being in a position where there is tons of media attention in the NFL, positive and negative, these guys will hopefully get these holiday mailers and not just read about what we do and give a dollar or two, but use that some of that media attention to 'tell the Cabrini Connections' story and how that story features a mission to help the youth create and reach their potential and their goals!

Click here to view the Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection eMail Holiday Card. Please send this to members of you own friend and family network and many will add their Holiday Fund donations to help us continue this work in 2009.

Will YOU join us in our efforts as well!?!?

~Tis the Season for Giving~

Two GREAT Opportunities

An Opportunity to Remember
Tutors and Mentors are you looking for an event to take your students to in the near future???? Well here is a perfect opportunity for you and your student to get together out in the community. On April 26, 2008 at 12:00 P.M. Northwestern University will be hosting their Annual Spring Football game at Ryan Field in Evanston, IL. The game set up is an intersquad scrimmage opened to the public to give the first glimpse of Wildcats as they prepare for the 2008-2009 Season. This is a FREE event and everybody who attends will have the opportunity to stretch with the Cats before the game and get autographs from the players and coaches after the game. Also many of the former Northwestern University football stars, many of whom are currently in the NFL and other highly successful careers, will be in attendance signing autographs throughout the game. NFL players such as Noah Herron of the Green Bay Packers, Austin King of the Seattle Seahawks, Luis Castillo of the San Diego Charges, and Barry Cofield of the 2008 Super Bowl Champions, the New York Giants. This is also an opportunity for many of the students of the Cabrini Connections program to interact with the players and listen to how they used tutor/mentor programs like Cabrini Connections on their path to future and current careers!
So here is the perfect opportunity for you and your student to get out and only enjoy the great weather and a great game, but also an opportunity to interact with positive role models and current and future NFL stars!

The Perfect Attendance Challenge
The staff at the Cabrini Connections and the Tutor/Mentor Connections programs strives to not only encourage positive attendance, but also to reward positive attendance. New Administrative Coordinator, EL Da’ Sheon Nix, has created The Perfect Attendance Challenge for the students and the tutor/mentors of the Cabrini Connections Wednesday and Thursday tutoring sessions. Here are the details of The Perfect Attendance Challenge:
April 2, 2008-May 22, 2008 is the 3rd quarter of the Cabrini Connections program for the 2007-2008 school year. If on a Wednesday or Thursday tutoring session during the 3rd quarter the attendance reaches a perfect 100% EL Da’ Sheon Nix will personally host a Pizza Party for all of the tutor/mentors and students who were present on that day. So the Wednesday tutoring session will have an opportunity to earn the Pizza Party and the Thursday tutoring session will have an opportunity to earn the Pizza Party.
*special note* In order to have attendance count for that day tutor/mentors and students have to be signed in before 6:10 and must stay until at least 7:45 UNLESS there is an emergency situation causing a student or tutor/mentor to arrive late or leave early. And the organizations staff will have the right to determine if the reason is valid to still count attendance for that day.
So The Perfect Attendance Challenge has been set…can and will YOU meet this challenge?!?!
If there are any questions, concerns, or comments please direct them to EL Da’ Sheon Nix.

A Look Back on the 2010 Cabrini Madness Season!!!

Following a staff meeting that took place at the end of 2009, the Cabrini Madness FUNdraising idea started from some simple notes on a piece of paper. Assistant Program Coordinator, Bradley Troast, and I met to follow up on the information provided during the staff meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to come up with ways in which to bring in some much needed funds and resources in the 1st Quarter of 2010. And from those simple notes on a piece a paper we are proud to say that Cabrini Madness grew into something amazing! Please take a couple of minutes to look back on the 2010 Cabrini Madness Season:

Cabrini Madness Season: January 6th-April 5th, 2010

Number of Team: 13

Number of Participants on Roster: 114
Students (37)
Volunteers (37)
Staff, Coordinators, Board Members (25)
Outside of the Program Members (15)

Cabrini Madness FUNdraising Events:
-Passion's Team
John Knight's Birthday Celebration (Feb. 26th)
Cabrini Madness Bar Night (March 12th)

-The Lebrons
Market Bar Event (March 5th)

-Awesomes
The Green Heart Shop Event (Feb. 27th )

-Give Hope
Pizza Party (March 17th and 18th)

-Green Team
Sandra Lee's Cabrini Madness Bookmark Sales (March 27th)
Spring Break Pool Pary (March 31st)

-TEMS
Game Day Event(s) (March 13th and 20th)

Cabrini Madness Promotional Videos: 9 total
-Episode #1
-Episode #2
-Awesomes Shop and Sip Commercial
-Episode #3
-Episode #4
-Episode #5
-Episode #6
-Episode #7
-Episode #8


Teams that Advanced to the Elite 8:
-Guaranteed Victory, Team Impeccable, The Green Team, Each One Reach One, TEMS, Give Home, Passion's Team, and De'Jour's Team

Teams that Advanced to the Final 4:
-Guaranteed Victory, Team Impeccable, The Green Team, and Give Hope

Championship Round Teams:
-Guaranteed Victory and Team Impeccable

2010 Cabrini Madness FUNdraising Tournament Champion: Guaranteed Victory

"The Cabrini Madness Championship game turned out to be an instant classic!!! Team Impeccable made a HUGE play at about 10:45pm and went up on Guaranteed Victory pretty big. So Guaranteed Victory dug deep, remained poised and focused, and played their hearts out. And with less than 15 minutes left on the clock, New York Giants' starting Defensive Lineman, Barry Cofield made a $2,000 donation to put Guaranteed Victory on top and what turned out to be the game winning shot..."

Approximate Number of 2010 Cabrini Madness Donors: 360

Total Amount Raised in the 2010 Cabrini Madness Season: $23,109.89

As the Administrative Coordinator I am extremely proud at all of the activity that was a result of the Cabrini Madness tournament!!! There were more videos, events, and individual donors in this one FUNdraiser than any other event in the Cabrini Connections' history!!!! That is a HUGE accomplishment that all should be very proud of. Unfortunately the hardships and negative factors that serve as roadblocks for our youth's future continue, therefore our efforts to eliminate those roadblocks must continue as well and we will continue to seek out your help.

Please continue to support our efforts here at Cabrini Connections, and encourage others to do the same. Please visit the website and subscribe to the eNewsletter to see all that is taking place here at Cabrini Connections and check out our donation options here.

Strategic Network Building for Support

I'm going to go out on a limb here by saying that EVERYBODY has a network. No matter if you are 6 years old and your network is family and your classmates or you are Bill Gates and your network is extensive. But what is the use of a network if you can't utilize AND mobilize that network. The President/CEO of Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection, Dan Bassill, put together the graphic you see here in hopes that not only the organization's staff, students, and volunteers use it, but any and all of those connected to Cabrini Connections will use in order to continue to expand the organization's network that could essentially lead to a wider range of support.

Yesterday, after taking a moment to study the chart, I began to add names to the slots. This is easier said that done. True, I could have just threw names on the list, but I wanted to be strategic in my work. I looked at each category and really made an effort to add names of people who I first felt would be interested in the cause and then I considered the fact that they would either have the resources to support and/or could connect me to others in their network that could potentially respond with support also.

I put together a letter of support providing more information about who we are, what we do, and why I am involved and why others my want to get involved in some way. I also added a donation form so that after reading the information that was provided those people could easily contribute. I sent that information to nearly 40 people. The information went out to a wide range of people, from my mother and my father who will support me and my endeavors no matter what, to NFL stars such as Barry Cofield, Tyrell Sutton, and Orlando Pace who benefited from mentors and a support system on their road to success.

My number 1 goal is that everybody that receives the information takes the time to read the information and from that point decide how they can support. I am just one of over 2000+ people that are connected to Cabrini Connections in some way. If every current student, volunteer, staff, if every student, staff, and volunteer alumnus, and if every parent and/or former supporter of the program took 30 minutes out of their day atleast once a week and used this tool to strategically network build for Cabrini Connections not only would we expand our network greatly, but that would put us in a position to provide all of our students, volunteers, and staff with the resources necessary to be successful. And who doesn't want to be successful?...

Will YOU Help Lead Us to Success?

Season's Greetings!

Over the past couple of weeks the Cabrini Connections, Tutor/Mentor Connection staff have been taking part in our annual Holiday mailer. The packages of information went to many past, current, and hopefully future Cabrini Connections' supporters. Our aim is to share a little more about what all we do here at Cabrini Connections with the youth and volunteers who participate in our program, and by sharing this information we hope more and more people will be willing to support our program in various ways.

Beyond just the mailers that we sent out to the large group, the entire staff took different amounts for personal use. Individually, we all took some time to think of people in our own personal network that we felt would not only like to hear more about what we do, but could further support our program. Whether the support came from just spreading the word about Cabrini Connections to people in their network, donating a dollar or two, sharing other valuable resources, or all of the above.

Over the weekend I put began putting my list together. I made an effort to reach out to people who not only have been supporting me and my career, but the people I selected to add to my list are also people who care about improving the lives of youth. True there were professional athletes who are Cabrini Connections' fans such as Tyrell Sutton and Barry Cofield, but I also included everyday people who know the importance of having a mentor in their own personal lives.

In today's tough economic environment people all over are cutting back on their giving, but if everybody can just give a little, that adds up! And there are still many people in the world who have benefited greatly from having tutors, mentors, and just a variety of support networks that have the ability give more than others.. And as a result of that success, these individuals have the opportunity to GIVE BACK in a huge way, especially during the holiday season!

~Happy Holidays~