*The Cleveland Browns are committed to the community. Through First and Ten, the Dawg Pound is encouraged to share what they are doing to give back. Get inspired and check out what these fans are doing to help their community:
*How do you give back?#give10
Name: Elayna Theiss
Hometown: Cleveland, OH
How they give back:
Elayna is a registered physical therapist (PT) and wanted to use her training for not only her career but also to help out the community. Elayna and a couple of her PT friends teamed up with a local hospital and began to help out the patients that frequent there. Every week Elayna and her fellow physical therapists provide free treatment to anyone that is in need. She has been doing this for four years now and plans to continue doing this into the future.
Name: George Rand
Hometown: Cleveland, OH
How they give back:
George has been volunteering for close to 15 years and doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon. One venture he has worked on is collecting aluminum cans. This is in conjunction with Aluminum Cans for Burned Children (ACBC) where he donates to local fire departments. In addition to collecting and donating aluminum cans, he has donated food at the Cleveland Browns First and Ten Food Drive for the past couple of years.
Name: Lauren Merkt
Hometown: Cincinnati, OH
How they give back:
Lauren currently volunteers with United Way, but has been volunteering since her junior year in high school. Lauren initially got into volunteering with hopes to get a scholarship for all the hours that she had contributed to philanthropic efforts. In addition to volunteering with United Way, she also helped the Browns package food at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank before Thanksgiving. She also has helped out at the Lebron James Family Foundation, Dayton V.A. Hospice, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Cincinnati, and Habitat for Humanity.
Name: Tim Smith
Hometown: Northfield, OH
How they give back:
Tim is an older gentleman who has watched and cheered on the Browns for more than four decades. The excitement the team brings to the city is like none other, but he believes that it's more than what the players do on the field that counts. He wants to make his life count and he believes others are on the same page as well. He was certainly right, as he found out after connecting with Paul Warfield, a Browns Legend who values community and people. Paul and his wife Bev are very active in the community and even had a foundation at one time which Tim was able to contribute to and spread goodwill. Tim is currently working on a project that will help youth gain scholarships to the University of Akron. He's volunteered at various places over the years, including the food bank, West Side, East Side coalition, Hands Across America and more. He says it's better to help and give than receive at 74-years old. That is what he wants to be remembered by.* *
Name: Peggy Cannefax
Hometown: San Antonio, TX
How they give back:
Peggy and the rest of the Alamo Browns Backers have made efforts to support the San Antonio Food Bank, an organization which proved critical in the Hurricane Harvey relief efforts in South Texas. Their group called it "Adopted Texans Helping Texans." Their host facility, Buffalo Wings & Rings, offered to let them keep the donation bins at the entrance to the restaurant all week so that their regular customers could participate in the food and fundraiser. In a matter of a week, they had accumulated 389 pounds of food and $1,500 dollars. While they hope there would not be another hurricane next year, they intend to keep Hunger Awareness Month as one of their annual charitable events/fundraisers.
Interested in signing up your volunteer group for First and Ten? Group forms available! Click here***http://www.clevelandbrowns.com/community/firstandten.html**** to learn more about how to #give10*
Follow @BrownsGiveBack on Twitter and Instagram and tell us what you are doing to help others using #give10 to unite us all as Browns fans. Give 10 hours, help your community.
The Browns are dedicated to #give10 through the team's First and Ten initiative. Launched in June 2014, the Cleveland Browns First and Ten campaign is the team's community program, established to inspire fans to volunteer in and help their communities throughout the world by volunteering for 10 hours each year. Since its inception, Browns fans have committed to volunteering more than 1.5 million hours to impact their communities by pledging to #give10. Through First and Ten, the Browns are the only NFL club to promote a long-term volunteering program that unifies the team and its entire fan base, with the goal of impacting every individual's city across the globe, as well as the franchise's local community. All Browns fans are encouraged to join the volunteering effort by signing the First and Ten pledge on the team's website and by sharing their stories with #give10**
