Spiritguy
05-14-2009, 10:40 AM
Didn't see this posted yet.
April 21st, 2009 by Mike Hlas
A common complaint I’ve heard over the years is we media mopes tend to focus on the athletes who have gone astray. What about all the good ones? The thing is, part of being a “good one” is you don’t seek recognition for your goodness. You just try to live it.
Seth Olsen, a consensus first-team All-Big Ten offensive guard at Iowa last season, tries to live it.
Olsen’s desire to live for something greater than himself, along with the same feeling of a Cedar Rapids schoolteacher, produced something very nice at Monroe Early Childhood School in Cedar Rapids earlier this year.
The result is a school somewhere in Africa is going to have cleaner, safer water. “I’d read that Seth had a passion for helping get clean water to Africa,” said Monroe physical education teacher Lisa Pilch. “I have a passion for that myself.”
So Pilch called the Iowa football office and got connected with Olsen, asking him if he wanted to participate in a project she was doing with her 5- and 6-year-old students called “Coins for Clear Water.” The kids sought to get people to donate coins for the cause, which was to help build a fresh-water well at an African school via non-profit organization charity: water.
“Lisa asked me if I wanted to be part of it,” Olsen said, “and I was thrilled to help in any way.”
A wishing well was placed in Monroe’s office. The kids spent three weeks seeking peoples’ pocket change. The total raised topped $3,000.
“I was really, really touched,” Pilch said. “I thought we might get a few hundred dollars. Here we got three thousand dollars in coins. It was pretty awesome.”
Olsen, a mountain of a young man at 6-foot-5 and 305 pounds, cut quite the figure with a lot of little kids who may not have known a Hawkeye from a blue eye or a private eye.
“Ohhh, the kids were so excited to meet him,” said Pilch. “You couldn’t ask for a nicer guy. He was just great with the kids.”
Olsen hopes this was an initial step in one of his life goals, which is to help get clean water for Africans who desperately need it. “The last two or three years I’ve felt God has given me a heart for Africa,” Olsen said. “I’m not sure why.
“Clean water is kind of a scant commodity in Africa. It was something I was made aware of a couple years ago.
“My wife and I want to try to go to Africa after my first full NFL season, hopefully next February or March.”
What Olsen wants first, of course, is to join the many former Hawkeye offensive linemen who have preceded him into the NFL. He played in the East-West Shrine Game, went to the league’s scouting combine. He’s done all the interviews and tests, endured the pokes and probes, showed prowess in bench reps and vertical jumps.
Now it’s a matter of waiting until Sunday, probably, to see if and where he lands in the draft and where his new home will be. Then starts the business of trying to carve out a long pro career. For many football players, that’s the dream. For Olsen, it’s the means toward his dream.
“My dream job after the NFL is to work for a non-profit that does work bringing clean water to Africa,” he said. “If everything goes well in football, eventually I’d like to start my own non-profit.
“My wife, Christi, is a nurse (at the UI’s Children’s Hospital), so it’s easy for her to help. Me, I have to figure out how I can help.
“If I play for a few years at the NFL minimum, starting a non-profit is a more-realistic goal. Plus, playing in the league gives you a platform more than anything, for whatever message you’re promoting.”
Olsen is from Omaha. He didn’t grow up in poverty, under the threat of disease. But it’s elsewhere in the world, and it bothers him.
“The amount of water we use in this country is astronomical,” he said. “In Africa they have to walk miles to get water, and then it’s dirty anyways.”
There you have it, an abridged story of one of the “good ones.”
“Seth is going to do great things,” Pilch said, “whether he plays in the NFL or not.”
http://hlog.iowa.com/2009/04/21/seth-olsen-has-more-than-the-nfl-in-his-sights/
April 21st, 2009 by Mike Hlas
A common complaint I’ve heard over the years is we media mopes tend to focus on the athletes who have gone astray. What about all the good ones? The thing is, part of being a “good one” is you don’t seek recognition for your goodness. You just try to live it.
Seth Olsen, a consensus first-team All-Big Ten offensive guard at Iowa last season, tries to live it.
Olsen’s desire to live for something greater than himself, along with the same feeling of a Cedar Rapids schoolteacher, produced something very nice at Monroe Early Childhood School in Cedar Rapids earlier this year.
The result is a school somewhere in Africa is going to have cleaner, safer water. “I’d read that Seth had a passion for helping get clean water to Africa,” said Monroe physical education teacher Lisa Pilch. “I have a passion for that myself.”
So Pilch called the Iowa football office and got connected with Olsen, asking him if he wanted to participate in a project she was doing with her 5- and 6-year-old students called “Coins for Clear Water.” The kids sought to get people to donate coins for the cause, which was to help build a fresh-water well at an African school via non-profit organization charity: water.
“Lisa asked me if I wanted to be part of it,” Olsen said, “and I was thrilled to help in any way.”
A wishing well was placed in Monroe’s office. The kids spent three weeks seeking peoples’ pocket change. The total raised topped $3,000.
“I was really, really touched,” Pilch said. “I thought we might get a few hundred dollars. Here we got three thousand dollars in coins. It was pretty awesome.”
Olsen, a mountain of a young man at 6-foot-5 and 305 pounds, cut quite the figure with a lot of little kids who may not have known a Hawkeye from a blue eye or a private eye.
“Ohhh, the kids were so excited to meet him,” said Pilch. “You couldn’t ask for a nicer guy. He was just great with the kids.”
Olsen hopes this was an initial step in one of his life goals, which is to help get clean water for Africans who desperately need it. “The last two or three years I’ve felt God has given me a heart for Africa,” Olsen said. “I’m not sure why.
“Clean water is kind of a scant commodity in Africa. It was something I was made aware of a couple years ago.
“My wife and I want to try to go to Africa after my first full NFL season, hopefully next February or March.”
What Olsen wants first, of course, is to join the many former Hawkeye offensive linemen who have preceded him into the NFL. He played in the East-West Shrine Game, went to the league’s scouting combine. He’s done all the interviews and tests, endured the pokes and probes, showed prowess in bench reps and vertical jumps.
Now it’s a matter of waiting until Sunday, probably, to see if and where he lands in the draft and where his new home will be. Then starts the business of trying to carve out a long pro career. For many football players, that’s the dream. For Olsen, it’s the means toward his dream.
“My dream job after the NFL is to work for a non-profit that does work bringing clean water to Africa,” he said. “If everything goes well in football, eventually I’d like to start my own non-profit.
“My wife, Christi, is a nurse (at the UI’s Children’s Hospital), so it’s easy for her to help. Me, I have to figure out how I can help.
“If I play for a few years at the NFL minimum, starting a non-profit is a more-realistic goal. Plus, playing in the league gives you a platform more than anything, for whatever message you’re promoting.”
Olsen is from Omaha. He didn’t grow up in poverty, under the threat of disease. But it’s elsewhere in the world, and it bothers him.
“The amount of water we use in this country is astronomical,” he said. “In Africa they have to walk miles to get water, and then it’s dirty anyways.”
There you have it, an abridged story of one of the “good ones.”
“Seth is going to do great things,” Pilch said, “whether he plays in the NFL or not.”
http://hlog.iowa.com/2009/04/21/seth-olsen-has-more-than-the-nfl-in-his-sights/