- The Gabby Krause Foundation: Bags of Fun is getting national attention with a local connection through Jack Stoll.
- The organization gives Bags of Fun with toys and games to kids experiencing life threatening illnesses.
- You can donate toBags of Fun Omaha here.
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Just off 192nd and Maple in Elkhorn is the Omaha chapter for the non-profit, Bags of Fun. And during Sunday's Eagles vs 49ers game, former husker football player and current tight end for the Eagles, Jack Stoll, represented the organization by wearing shoes for the NFL campaign, My Cause My Cleats.
For this campaign, NFL players choose an organization important to them, and then showcase their cause on their feet.
For Jack, he picked The Gabby Krause Foundation: Bags of Fun, an organization his family's' been a part of since its inception 19 years ago.
"Gabby Krause and Jack Stoll actually went to kindergarten together in Denver, and so he knew Gabby when she was diagnosed," said Drue Lovgren, board member for Bags of Fun.
At just five-years-old, Jack's friend and classmate was diagnosed with pediatric brain cancer.
She battled it for 18 months, bringing her own bag of fun including toys and games with her to appointments.
Her wish was to help bring as many bags of fun to other kids as she could.
And while Gabby’s no longer with us, her mother was inspired by her fight to create this foundation.
"Parents are often overwhelmed with just understanding the diagnosis and taking care of their sick kid, that sometimes keeping them occupied and having fun stuff for them to do is sometimes an afterthought,” said Drue Lovgren, who’s also the sister to the late husker quarterback, Brook Berringer.
She met Jack, after he was named to the Brook Berringer citizenship team all four years of his college career at UNL.
"So even as a student athlete in college when he's crazy busy, it was super important to Jack to give back to the communities that supported him."
And now, Jack continues to give back, helping the non-profit gain more exposure.
"Our social medias are exploding with new followers seeing the kind of things that we do."
Drue says she hopes the added exposure helps them reach more kids with their bags of fun.
"Being a smaller non-profit that is only in Denver, Omaha and Kansas City… to be on a national stage, like the NFL, and to have Jack represent our organization is huge and we feel so honored that he chose us as the cause that's most important to him."
