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DeBorah Little, widow of Pro Football Hall of Fame running back Floyd Little, has really focused on helping change lives through the nonprofit she created, Foundation 44: The Legacy of Floyd Little. After Floyd passed, DeBorah decided, through the encouragement of friends, it was up to her to continue her husband's memory.
Foundation 44: The Legacy of Floyd Little has four specific programs designed to help those groups that Floyd and DeBorah cared for most. The programs Foundation 44 sponsors is the focus of Part 2 of Broncos Wire's interview with DeBorah Little.
"The greatest reward (of the foundation) is the love for the kids that I am teaching," said DeBorah. "Foundation 44 has four programs. We do everything in fours; that was Floyd's favorite number. (He was) born on the Fourth of July, wore number 44, and four was his favorite number, so we have four programs in the Syracuse (New York) city school district."
"We're running a program called the personal and educational development program where we inspire the kids' minds so that we can change their lives," DeBorah explained. "We work with the students who have high absenteeism and low grades; we want to save lives, right?"
"PED teaches students to apply life and professional skills through a school-year-long project that requires them to identify a school issue in their school, pitch solutions and implement them," DeBorah said in an interview with Chloe Rinka of The Daily Orange.
Some of the projects include a student-run store in Lincoln Middle School. "(Students) acquired product, they had all kinds of goodies: chips, cookies, candy bar, soda, water, even the pizza that I take to feed them, they put their pizza up for sale to the class," DeBorah told Broncos Wire. "Then I called (Syracuse University) head football coach Fran Brown; I asked him if he would send some of his football players to the middle school so that we could have an event. He said he would; he did it four times, four weeks in a row at (the school)."
"All of (the projects are) the students, their work, their ideas; they're the ones who bring it, so I'm simply a facilitator. I do not make any final decisions for the students. They decide and they vote on it, and then we go on the direction that they would like to do."
One of the biggest mantras of Foundation 44 is, "Each one, teach one." "(We ask every student to) pay (what they are learning) forward, everything that I'm teaching you that really resonates with you," said DeBorah. "Each one, teach one. You go pay that knowledge for your friends who are skipping school, or your friends; tell your friends, tell your other teachers, tell your parents what you're learning: each one, teach one: pay the knowledge forward."
2. Legacy of our Legends
"The Legacy of Legends (LOL) program offers diverse opportunities for the widows of Pro Football Hall of Famers to celebrate and perpetuate the lives and legacies of their legendary husbands," reads the website for the program.
"We are working with Pro Football Hall of Fame widows, where these widows will get back out there and become relevant again," said DeBorah. "We (as widows) become completely forgotten about; we don't get invitations anymore. Our income, the household income changes significantly, but I will find sponsors who will book these widows, four of them at a time -- I do everything to enforce four of them -- and we talk about life with our Hall of Famer before the NFL, during the NFL and then after the NFL from the wife perspective. (We talk about) the husband, the father, the brother, the uncle; what was the man like, not the athlete from the widow's perspective, the family perspective."
One of DeBorah's biggest advocates and helpers with LOL is "Monique Brown, Jim Brown's wife. Very, very good friend of mine. (She is) extremely popular and extremely successful and Monique gets to go to a bunch of things. (The Cleveland Browns) still call on her. The Cleveland Browns are very good to her, right so we need to learn from Monique. How can we get invited? How do we stay relevant?"
3. The Believers Retreat
"Floyd used to sponsor women coming to our home in Las Vegas for a weekend, and over that weekend these women talked about their plans for the upcoming year: What are my goals? What are my visions for my future coming up," said DeBorah. "Floyd sponsored it he paid for the food. So the Believe series is where women from around the country come to Las Vegas for a Thursday through Sunday retreat to talk about the plans and the strategies for their lives."
4.The Little Sisters Believers Retreat
"This is for young girls ages between 14 and 16, who live here in Las Vegas," said DeBorah. "They come to our home and it's the exact same thing (as the Believer's retreat): What do you? What are your goals for your life? What are you studying in school? What classes do you need more help in? We teach them the smart system for goalsetting: 'What kind of career do you think you wanna have' and start them early, build up their confidence and their belief in themselves and give them a very, very clear vision. We are building leaders out of these little girls in the same thing. Each one, teach one; now you go teach somebody what you just learned."
DeBorah's greatest reward is giving back Floyd's love to the women and students who need it most. "I put my heart on the table and I tell them how much I love them," said DeBorah. "I tell them how much I believe in them. I finally got to the point where I could give them a hug when they come in or when they're leaving the classroom, I give them a hug. I give them a little squeeze, and I whisper in their ear, 'I believe in you; please believe in yourself. I believe in you and I'm here for you,' and the greatest reward is that once they started getting comfortable with that, a lot of the kids don't wanna let go. They need the hugs and the love as much as, or more than I do. When I'm hugging a child who's 12-13 years old, little boy or little girl, and I give him that little hug and I go to release, they keep holding. They need that love, they need that validation, and I'm there to give it to them through the Holy Spirit. Let me be clear, through the Holy Spirit and with all the love that Floyd would've given them as well and so that is the greatest reward, because God knows I need the love and I get so much of it. I have about 125 students that have hung in there from the beginning, and they're still with me and I'd say I get at least 100 hugs a week from all of those kids. I love it. It's the greatest reward."
Part 3 of Broncos Wire's interview will talk about Floyd Little's Hall of Fame journey, as seen by the woman by his side through the process. You can read part 1 of the interview on Broncos Wire.
This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: NFL: DeBorah Little helps change lives through Floyd Little's legacy
Continue reading...
Foundation 44: The Legacy of Floyd Little has four specific programs designed to help those groups that Floyd and DeBorah cared for most. The programs Foundation 44 sponsors is the focus of Part 2 of Broncos Wire's interview with DeBorah Little.
"The greatest reward (of the foundation) is the love for the kids that I am teaching," said DeBorah. "Foundation 44 has four programs. We do everything in fours; that was Floyd's favorite number. (He was) born on the Fourth of July, wore number 44, and four was his favorite number, so we have four programs in the Syracuse (New York) city school district."
"We're running a program called the personal and educational development program where we inspire the kids' minds so that we can change their lives," DeBorah explained. "We work with the students who have high absenteeism and low grades; we want to save lives, right?"
"PED teaches students to apply life and professional skills through a school-year-long project that requires them to identify a school issue in their school, pitch solutions and implement them," DeBorah said in an interview with Chloe Rinka of The Daily Orange.
Some of the projects include a student-run store in Lincoln Middle School. "(Students) acquired product, they had all kinds of goodies: chips, cookies, candy bar, soda, water, even the pizza that I take to feed them, they put their pizza up for sale to the class," DeBorah told Broncos Wire. "Then I called (Syracuse University) head football coach Fran Brown; I asked him if he would send some of his football players to the middle school so that we could have an event. He said he would; he did it four times, four weeks in a row at (the school)."
"All of (the projects are) the students, their work, their ideas; they're the ones who bring it, so I'm simply a facilitator. I do not make any final decisions for the students. They decide and they vote on it, and then we go on the direction that they would like to do."
One of the biggest mantras of Foundation 44 is, "Each one, teach one." "(We ask every student to) pay (what they are learning) forward, everything that I'm teaching you that really resonates with you," said DeBorah. "Each one, teach one. You go pay that knowledge for your friends who are skipping school, or your friends; tell your friends, tell your other teachers, tell your parents what you're learning: each one, teach one: pay the knowledge forward."
2. Legacy of our Legends
"The Legacy of Legends (LOL) program offers diverse opportunities for the widows of Pro Football Hall of Famers to celebrate and perpetuate the lives and legacies of their legendary husbands," reads the website for the program.
"We are working with Pro Football Hall of Fame widows, where these widows will get back out there and become relevant again," said DeBorah. "We (as widows) become completely forgotten about; we don't get invitations anymore. Our income, the household income changes significantly, but I will find sponsors who will book these widows, four of them at a time -- I do everything to enforce four of them -- and we talk about life with our Hall of Famer before the NFL, during the NFL and then after the NFL from the wife perspective. (We talk about) the husband, the father, the brother, the uncle; what was the man like, not the athlete from the widow's perspective, the family perspective."
One of DeBorah's biggest advocates and helpers with LOL is "Monique Brown, Jim Brown's wife. Very, very good friend of mine. (She is) extremely popular and extremely successful and Monique gets to go to a bunch of things. (The Cleveland Browns) still call on her. The Cleveland Browns are very good to her, right so we need to learn from Monique. How can we get invited? How do we stay relevant?"
3. The Believers Retreat
"Floyd used to sponsor women coming to our home in Las Vegas for a weekend, and over that weekend these women talked about their plans for the upcoming year: What are my goals? What are my visions for my future coming up," said DeBorah. "Floyd sponsored it he paid for the food. So the Believe series is where women from around the country come to Las Vegas for a Thursday through Sunday retreat to talk about the plans and the strategies for their lives."
4.The Little Sisters Believers Retreat
"This is for young girls ages between 14 and 16, who live here in Las Vegas," said DeBorah. "They come to our home and it's the exact same thing (as the Believer's retreat): What do you? What are your goals for your life? What are you studying in school? What classes do you need more help in? We teach them the smart system for goalsetting: 'What kind of career do you think you wanna have' and start them early, build up their confidence and their belief in themselves and give them a very, very clear vision. We are building leaders out of these little girls in the same thing. Each one, teach one; now you go teach somebody what you just learned."
DeBorah's greatest reward is giving back Floyd's love to the women and students who need it most. "I put my heart on the table and I tell them how much I love them," said DeBorah. "I tell them how much I believe in them. I finally got to the point where I could give them a hug when they come in or when they're leaving the classroom, I give them a hug. I give them a little squeeze, and I whisper in their ear, 'I believe in you; please believe in yourself. I believe in you and I'm here for you,' and the greatest reward is that once they started getting comfortable with that, a lot of the kids don't wanna let go. They need the hugs and the love as much as, or more than I do. When I'm hugging a child who's 12-13 years old, little boy or little girl, and I give him that little hug and I go to release, they keep holding. They need that love, they need that validation, and I'm there to give it to them through the Holy Spirit. Let me be clear, through the Holy Spirit and with all the love that Floyd would've given them as well and so that is the greatest reward, because God knows I need the love and I get so much of it. I have about 125 students that have hung in there from the beginning, and they're still with me and I'd say I get at least 100 hugs a week from all of those kids. I love it. It's the greatest reward."
Part 3 of Broncos Wire's interview will talk about Floyd Little's Hall of Fame journey, as seen by the woman by his side through the process. You can read part 1 of the interview on Broncos Wire.
This article originally appeared on Broncos Wire: NFL: DeBorah Little helps change lives through Floyd Little's legacy
Continue reading...
