Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Holgorsen Walk to Benefit Family Resource Center at WVU Medicine Children's
March 07, 2018 12:21 PM | Football
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - When you put two great minds together, oftentimes it leads to great things.
West Virginia University football coach Dana Holgorsen is an advocate of WVU Medicine Children's Hospital and continues to make it a cause he wholeheartedly supports.
Former West Virginia University and NFL great Jeff Hostetler also is passionate about WVU Medicine Children's and through his Hoss Foundation, a Family Resource Center was recently created in the children's wing on the sixth floor of Ruby Memorial Hospital.
During one of Holgorsen's visits to the new Family Resource Center an idea was hatched: Why not walk the talk? In other words, merge Holgorsen's love of walking and physical fitness with the need to fund the Family Resource Center.
"Our relationships with WVU Medicine Children's and the Hoss Foundation have been strong for many, many years and we want to continue to strengthen that relationship," Holgorsen explained. "Jeff does such a great job over at the hospital with his foundation. He built the Family Resource Center over there, which I've been over there hanging out a little bit.
"A lot of our players go over there every week to show support, and we're trying to strengthen that relationship and do even more than what we're currently doing," Holgorsen added.
So, instead of just talking the talk, the coach is going to walk the talk.
"People will say, 'Yeah, this is a great cause and I'd like to help out' and there is always a lot of talk, but not always much action," Hostetler said. "I've been someone that if you are going to do something, you better walk that talk - you better follow up with action. Words are hollow without it.
"Dana has shown an interest in helping out. He's gone over there with me to visit with the kids. Dana also loves to walk and get a lot of things done while he's walking, so it seemed like a natural to join those two together," Hostetler added. "We both have the same goal in mind, and that's to help these families of kids who are struggling."
This year's Walk The Talk With Dana Holgorsen runs concurrently with a 5K run and the Lil' Mountaineer Kids Dash to benefit the Family Resource Center, established seven months ago by Hostetler and his wife, Vicky, through the Hoss Foundation, to help families with children enduring traumatic illness or injury.
"Unless you've actually gone through it, you have no idea what they're going through, so what we're trying to do with the Family Resource Center is to let them concentrate on the task at hand of getting their kids healthy and let the resource center help them by providing food, lodging, laundry and other programs to help take care of them and their siblings when need be," Hostetler explained. "We're just trying to coordinate any resources that are available to help families."
The Walk the Talk With Dana Holgorsen, the 5K run and the Lil' Mountaineer Kids Dash will take place during the morning of the Gold-Blue Spring Game at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday, April 7.
The 5K run will start at 9 a.m. and the course will take runners on a path very similar to Holgorsen's frequent lunchtime walks.
It will begin at the stadium and proceed up Law School Drive. It will then cross University Avenue and go past Blaney House, WVU president E. Gordon Gee's residence, where Dr. Gee will serve refreshments and cheer on the participants.
The race will continue down past Towers, cross University Avenue and continue to Ruby Memorial Hospital, where doctors, nurses and patients will root on the runners. It will conclude through the tunnel at the stadium, finishing up in the North end zone.
The Walk the Talk With Dana Holgorsen will follow a similar path as the 5K race and will begin approximately five minutes after the race is underway.
"I'm old, broken down and stressed out, so I go on 2 ½-mile walks all the time and people are going to be able to do that," Holgorsen said. "Hopefully, we can raise a lot of money for the Hoss Foundation to be able to do some things for the hospital over there."
Runners and walkers will be able to watch themselves enter the stadium on the video board when they finish the race.
The Lil' Mountaineer Kids Dash will also take place in the stadium with a little obstacle course on the field that finishes in the end zone. The Lil' Mountaineer Kids Dash is free of charge to any child 12 and under.
"We're encouraging them to take part in the Quarter-Back Challenge - bring a quarter back," Hostetler said. "We're asking kids to raise quarters and bring those to help the Family Resource Center, and we will have special prizes for them.
"We're working on setting up challenges between different area classrooms where the classroom that raises the most quarters, we'll throw a pizza party for them, and I will come and visit their school," Hostetler said. "We're also looking at a special prize for the student who brings in the most quarters as well."
Hostetler said he will even bring his two Super Bowl rings for the kids to try on.
United Bank is the lead sponsor for the Walk the Talk With Dana Holgorsen, but Hostetler said they are still seeking sponsorships for the 5K race and the Lil' Mountaineer Kids Dash.
Kegler's Sports Bar & Lounge is sponsoring a special VIP reception on Friday, April 6. Current Mountaineer coaches, players, former coaches and players will be available on Friday evening to mingle with participants.
"We've just started the Family Resource Center and we're still just getting our feet wet," Hostetler explained. "We love being there, but it is such a huge need; we're trying to make people aware of all of the services the resource center provides to be able to start different programs to meet even more of their needs.
"It's a tough thing to go through when a child comes in and their parents don't know what the end result is going to be," Hostetler continued. "On the one hand, parents want to spend all of their time and energy with their child, but they may also have other children, a job, family and all of these other commitments that they have to handle at the same time; what we're trying to do is help in any way that we can to take the resources we have available and try to make even more resources available to alleviate some of their burdens."
For more information about the three events, the Family Resource Center, the Hoss Foundation, or how to become involved as a participant, a volunteer or a sponsor, visit the website WalkTheTalkWithDana.com.
"It's a big weekend for WVU athletics and WVU Medicine Children's," Holgorsen noted. "The whole weekend is going to be about football and the kids, so we're excited about that weekend to wrap up spring ball before we end up finishing the last couple of weeks off academically."
The entry fee for the 5K race and the Walk The Talk With Dana Holgorsen is $35. Donations to the Family Resource Center are also being accepted online.
West Virginia University football coach Dana Holgorsen is an advocate of WVU Medicine Children's Hospital and continues to make it a cause he wholeheartedly supports.
Former West Virginia University and NFL great Jeff Hostetler also is passionate about WVU Medicine Children's and through his Hoss Foundation, a Family Resource Center was recently created in the children's wing on the sixth floor of Ruby Memorial Hospital.
During one of Holgorsen's visits to the new Family Resource Center an idea was hatched: Why not walk the talk? In other words, merge Holgorsen's love of walking and physical fitness with the need to fund the Family Resource Center.
"Our relationships with WVU Medicine Children's and the Hoss Foundation have been strong for many, many years and we want to continue to strengthen that relationship," Holgorsen explained. "Jeff does such a great job over at the hospital with his foundation. He built the Family Resource Center over there, which I've been over there hanging out a little bit.
"A lot of our players go over there every week to show support, and we're trying to strengthen that relationship and do even more than what we're currently doing," Holgorsen added.
So, instead of just talking the talk, the coach is going to walk the talk.
"People will say, 'Yeah, this is a great cause and I'd like to help out' and there is always a lot of talk, but not always much action," Hostetler said. "I've been someone that if you are going to do something, you better walk that talk - you better follow up with action. Words are hollow without it.
"Dana has shown an interest in helping out. He's gone over there with me to visit with the kids. Dana also loves to walk and get a lot of things done while he's walking, so it seemed like a natural to join those two together," Hostetler added. "We both have the same goal in mind, and that's to help these families of kids who are struggling."
This year's Walk The Talk With Dana Holgorsen runs concurrently with a 5K run and the Lil' Mountaineer Kids Dash to benefit the Family Resource Center, established seven months ago by Hostetler and his wife, Vicky, through the Hoss Foundation, to help families with children enduring traumatic illness or injury.
"Unless you've actually gone through it, you have no idea what they're going through, so what we're trying to do with the Family Resource Center is to let them concentrate on the task at hand of getting their kids healthy and let the resource center help them by providing food, lodging, laundry and other programs to help take care of them and their siblings when need be," Hostetler explained. "We're just trying to coordinate any resources that are available to help families."
The Walk the Talk With Dana Holgorsen, the 5K run and the Lil' Mountaineer Kids Dash will take place during the morning of the Gold-Blue Spring Game at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday, April 7.
The 5K run will start at 9 a.m. and the course will take runners on a path very similar to Holgorsen's frequent lunchtime walks.
It will begin at the stadium and proceed up Law School Drive. It will then cross University Avenue and go past Blaney House, WVU president E. Gordon Gee's residence, where Dr. Gee will serve refreshments and cheer on the participants.
The race will continue down past Towers, cross University Avenue and continue to Ruby Memorial Hospital, where doctors, nurses and patients will root on the runners. It will conclude through the tunnel at the stadium, finishing up in the North end zone.
The Walk the Talk With Dana Holgorsen will follow a similar path as the 5K race and will begin approximately five minutes after the race is underway.
"I'm old, broken down and stressed out, so I go on 2 ½-mile walks all the time and people are going to be able to do that," Holgorsen said. "Hopefully, we can raise a lot of money for the Hoss Foundation to be able to do some things for the hospital over there."
Runners and walkers will be able to watch themselves enter the stadium on the video board when they finish the race.
The Lil' Mountaineer Kids Dash will also take place in the stadium with a little obstacle course on the field that finishes in the end zone. The Lil' Mountaineer Kids Dash is free of charge to any child 12 and under.
"We're encouraging them to take part in the Quarter-Back Challenge - bring a quarter back," Hostetler said. "We're asking kids to raise quarters and bring those to help the Family Resource Center, and we will have special prizes for them.
"We're working on setting up challenges between different area classrooms where the classroom that raises the most quarters, we'll throw a pizza party for them, and I will come and visit their school," Hostetler said. "We're also looking at a special prize for the student who brings in the most quarters as well."
Hostetler said he will even bring his two Super Bowl rings for the kids to try on.
United Bank is the lead sponsor for the Walk the Talk With Dana Holgorsen, but Hostetler said they are still seeking sponsorships for the 5K race and the Lil' Mountaineer Kids Dash.
Kegler's Sports Bar & Lounge is sponsoring a special VIP reception on Friday, April 6. Current Mountaineer coaches, players, former coaches and players will be available on Friday evening to mingle with participants.
"We've just started the Family Resource Center and we're still just getting our feet wet," Hostetler explained. "We love being there, but it is such a huge need; we're trying to make people aware of all of the services the resource center provides to be able to start different programs to meet even more of their needs.
"It's a tough thing to go through when a child comes in and their parents don't know what the end result is going to be," Hostetler continued. "On the one hand, parents want to spend all of their time and energy with their child, but they may also have other children, a job, family and all of these other commitments that they have to handle at the same time; what we're trying to do is help in any way that we can to take the resources we have available and try to make even more resources available to alleviate some of their burdens."
For more information about the three events, the Family Resource Center, the Hoss Foundation, or how to become involved as a participant, a volunteer or a sponsor, visit the website WalkTheTalkWithDana.com.
"It's a big weekend for WVU athletics and WVU Medicine Children's," Holgorsen noted. "The whole weekend is going to be about football and the kids, so we're excited about that weekend to wrap up spring ball before we end up finishing the last couple of weeks off academically."
The entry fee for the 5K race and the Walk The Talk With Dana Holgorsen is $35. Donations to the Family Resource Center are also being accepted online.
Join me on April 6th & 7th to help raise money for the Hostetler Family Resource Center at WVU Medicine Children's during the 2018 Spring Game Weekend. LETS GO! pic.twitter.com/oe1NAauAdk
— Dana Holgorsen (@Holgorsendana) February 28, 2018
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