Tuesday...Whose Day? My guess is that someone in your life inspired you when you were very young to believe in yourself and to dream that you could make it one day.

Maybe it was a teacher or a coach or a music instructor or a mentor.

Now just imagine growing up in a situation in which there is no adult to believe in you.   Through no fault of your own, simply because of circumstances beyond your control, you live in a house with an absent parent.  You go to an overcrowded school with a teacher who doesn't have time for you.   Your peers are getting involved in gangs or becoming moms at age 13.  And there are not enough coaches or mentors in your community to show you a different way…a way out.

Today, people across the country are participating in Giving Tuesday.   It launches the holiday season asking us all to take a moment and support a charity whose mission means something to us.

I’m asking you to consider Up2Us to be that charity. Support Up2Us’ mission to use sports to bring about change in the lives of our nation’s at-risk youth.

Please do it in honor of an adult who inspired you when you were young—that  special "mentor” or “coach" who taught you life lessons that still ring true with you today.

In return, your support will be used to hire and train coach-mentors to be there for kids who desperately need positive role models in their lives.   And Up2Us has got the magic formula to do it—it's sports-based youth development programs PLUS highly trained coach mentors.  The fact is, while kids in the most traumatic circumstances may lose their connection to most adults, they will still look up to their coach.  I want to train a national workforce of coaches in America to foster this trust and inspire in kids, no matter how desperate their circumstances, the skills and life lessons that will get them through school, to college and onward to a successful life.

Tuesday…Whose Day?

I say this day belongs to that adult who once inspired you. Honor him or her by making a role model possible for a child who needs one. Click here to make a donation.

Want to do more? Promote the link to your friends and followers on Twitter & Facebook using #GivingTuesday and @Up2UsSports.

Thanks for your support and have a wonderful holiday season!

Paul Caccamo Executive Director