*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
The Findlay Hope House opened in 1990 in response to the need for a shelter for women and children. Since then, it has grown to offer six different programs and a host of services aimed at eliminating homelessness and alleviating poverty in Hancock County. Hope House services not only help people with their immediate situation, but to provide them with the education, tools, and resources to achieve sustainable and independent housing. A number of their volunteers have taken the First and Ten pledge and chosen to share their stories of how they #give10 with this organization.
Name: Mary Kay Kasiborski
How they give back:
Mary has been volunteering at the shelter since 2009. She started volunteering because she used to work as a clinical social worker, frequently with homeless adults, and when she discovered there was an agency in town serving that population, she wanted to help. She also volunteers for her children's schools, to help out with fundraising events at Whittier and Wilson Vance.
Name: Michele Zehender
How they give back:
Michele has volunteered with the Findlay Hope House for more than a year. She started volunteering with Hope House because she herself was close to finding herself in this situation many years ago, before agencies like Hope House were around. She wanted to find a way to help others and now that she is able and has the opportunity to, she does whenever she can. She has also made time to volunteer by making financial donations to various organizations throughout the year and supporting many different 5k races in the city.
Name: Megan Reis
How they give back:
Megan has just begun to volunteer with the Hope House in 2017. She will be coming up on six months with the nonprofit this summer. When she first started out she wanted to find a way to be a confidante and help this demographic who may not have been able to help themselves. She was really after looking to assist these women who may be having a hard time. It has kept her coming back and wanting to do more and more. She also has a big heart for animals and their well-being so she has begun to give her time at the Hancock Humane Society as well.
Name: Jessica Luna
How they give back:
Jessica is active in her school's social work club, volunteers as a big sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters, the Children's Foundation, she is a camp leader, provides horse lessons and tutors children on the side. She is very busy but still manages to make time to give back to causes she really believes in. Last year she began volunteering with Hope House. The positive impact it's had on her by just volunteering with them has been unmatched. She hopes to bring that same experience to the residents she serves.
Name: Diana Starkey
How they give back:
Diana volunteers with the Hope House to make a difference in the lives of women and children in need in her area. It really hits home because they are not from another state or even another country, it's our community. She has also gone above and beyond her work at the Hope House and volunteered as a court appointed special advocate for abused or neglected children in order to provide children with a safe and healthy environment in permanent homes. Lastly, she also works as a greeter at Cedar Creek to give back when her schedule allows.
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 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
