Warrick Dunn Gives Back-again!

Too many stories in the sports section are about athletes gone bad. College kids cheating, stealing or accepting cash from “should know better” alumni. Baseball players loading up on juice and women. Soccer players running around with prostitutes (allegedly male prostitutes). Football players doing all of the above.

But Friday, I opened the paper to read about one of the good guys. Warrick Dunn, began the Warrick Dunn Foundation “Home for the Holidays” charity almost the very day he was drafted back in 1997 by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has already assisted 77 single parents and 201 children realize their dream of owning their own home. Warrick focuses on families who have “demonstrated a commitment to advance financial independence and stability.” In other words, parents (mainly mothers) who have worked their butts off to provide for their families, but still struggle to make ends meet. Warrick does all this in honor of his mother, Betty Smothers, a single parent police officer who was shot and killed in 1993.

The Foundation provides, not only down payment assistance but also, with the help of community sponsors, furnish the house with everything from appliance to hand towels, stock the kitchen and gives a monetary contribution to help support the family. This past Mother’s Day, Warrick helped three families in the Tampa Bay area. Happy Mother’s Day.