BHGP is once again teaming with Iowa Touchdowns for Kids for the 2012 football season. For those of you new to the site, Iowa Touchdowns for Kids is a fundraising project of the University of Iowa Children's Hospital and Children's Miracle Network. The idea is simple: You make a donation per touchdown to Touchdowns for Kids. Iowa scores touchdowns. Kids who need help get money. Everybody wins, except for Minnesota.
The goal is as simple as the idea: We're building a hospital. Many people don't know about the University of Iowa Children's Hospital, mostly because it doesn't physically exist. UICH exists completely within University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics -- it's the nation's largest children's hospital that doesn't have its own stand-alone facility -- and while those facilities and physicians and nurses are top-notch, there are things that they simply cannot provide. Things like a top-floor play area where families can peer onto the field at Kinnick Stadium during games (yeah, they're really doing that).
We're building this.
If you want to see more about the kids who are being treated at University of Iowa Children's Hospital, spend some time at their Youtube channel, but I'll warn you: Five minutes there and you're pledging $Texas.
The beauty of Touchdowns for Kids is there are no overhead costs: The administrators are already working with UI Children's Hospital and Children's Miracle Network, and everyone else is a volunteer. Every dime you give goes straight to helping kids who need it and building them a hospital where they can get better and watch football. In the past two years, that's totaled up to about $30,000 from the BHGProletariat, which is incredible, and I can assure you that everyone involved with the program loves you all for it.
After the jump, how you can help in 2012.
There are two ways to make a donation to Touchdowns for Kids through BHGP. As we announced a couple of weeks ago, you can purchase an FOTP shirt from the Spreadshirt shop, and every bit of profit we make from those are going to TD4K. Your other option: The traditional option, and the one we really want you to take advantage of, is to make a per-touchdown donation directly to TD4K. Of course, you can always do both. You should probably do both.
When we met with the program administrators and volunteers after last season, they mentioned that they came close to getting a donation from every state in the union, and that their goal this year would be to in fact get a donation from every state. I'm going to channel my inner Joe Namath and drunkenly offer to kiss Suzy Kolbert make a guarantee: BHGP ALONE WILL GET A DONATION FROM EVERY STATE. That means we're calling some friends; you'll be hearing about TD4K at sites all over the SB Nation network this week. But that also means we need you. Call your friends in Rhode Island. Email your parents in Montana. Send random letters to people in Alaska. Let's make this happen, BHGProletariat. Make sure you check the box for "Black Heart Gold Pants Web Log" for where you heard about the charity.
We've done a Bragging Thread in the past, and we'll do it again this time (it's over in the Fanposts). Chime in there with your donations, and be sure to leave the state you're donating from. We'll be checking back periodically with an update, so you know how much we've been able to raise and where we need more help. Thanks in advance for your support.