Stories
Charlie Brown's Kids
Charlie Brown’s Kids is honored to receive financial support from the Bo Pelini Foundation. At Charlie Brown’s, Lincoln and area children ages 3-18 who have experienced the death of a parent are able to capture and preserve memories through discussion, art, writing and storytelling. With the role Nebraska athletics has in our community, many of the children’s memories often revolve around Husker sporting events. Our organization appreciates the fact Coach Pelini took the time to learn about us and our needs. It's wonderful to have the Bo Pelini Foundation on our team!
-Joslyn Dalton, CBK volunteer
UNMC Eppley Cancer Center
Establishing a statewide clinical trials initiative is an extremely important part of the UNMC Eppley Cancer Center’s mission to provide state of the art care to all Nebraskans. With the help of the Bo Pelini Foundation and Football 101, cutting-edge cancer clinical trials taking place at the Eppley Cancer Center will be offered to patients in treatment clinics across the state. Funds from Football 101 are also helping to establish the Breast Cancer Collaborative Registry (BCCR). Using web-based software, individuals provide information about their medical history, diet and lifestyle habits, environmental exposures and family history, while their physicians provide information about their treatments. Researchers will use the Breast Cancer Collaborative Registry to study the factors that influence the risk of developing breast cancer as well as the prognosis and quality of life of breast cancer patients. Funds from Football 101 are also being used to establish a statewide Biospecimen and Tissue Bank so that researchers can study the molecular changes associated with breast cancer. This research will help develop new biomarkers for breast cancer screening and new therapies for breast cancer treatment and prevention. Blood, urine and tissue samples will be collected from patients and stored for possible future diagnostic or therapeutic purposes.
The Benjamin Petrzilka Memorial
Our son Ben loved so many things in life. One of the things he loved was being part of was playing football with his friends for the Mary Our Queen Mustangs; the other was being a Boy Scout. Ben died last June, when a tornado came through a scout camp where he was taking a leadership-training course. After Ben’s death, there were some things that we felt we needed to do. One was to make his friends smile again and the other was to build storm shelters at the scout camp.
His teammates were given the opportunity to watch the Huskers practice and we enjoyed watching his friends have joy instead of sorrow.
The Bo Pelini Foundation continued to bring joy into our lives. The Foundation donated $1,000.00 to The Benjamin Petrzilka Memorial, which is being used to build shelters at the camp. What a wonderful thing to do for the Boy Scouts, in a world where it seems so many take, we can see how this foundation gives. We want to say thank you, because of your donation, our hopes are becoming possible. You have not only helped build buildings but also you have given the children who camp there and their families the security of knowing they are safe.
Thank you so much for helping the Boy Scouts, your foundation is a blessing to our community.
-Bryan and Arnell Petrzilka
The Southeast Nebraska Cancer Foundation
The Southeast Nebraska Cancer Foundation was initiated to help individuals in Lincoln and Southeast Nebraska as they deal with the expenses incurred during their treatment. Almost everyone in Nebraska has been touched by cancer in some way. Perhaps you are a survivor; a survivor’s spouse or family member. Perhaps you have a co-worker, a fellow church member or a good friend who has cancer. We all want to help in any way we can.
Determining the Foundation’s focus of support was difficult. However, it was made easier by involving patients who were being treated for cancer. Questionnaires were distributed to these individuals and their input was used to help the Foundation Board. It was determined that there were two areas not being addressed by other organizations: transportation and lodging.
Gas cards are provided by another organization for individuals who must travel at least 100 miles for treatment. However, for patients who travel 50 miles or less; there was no assistance. The Board decided gas cards and hotel vouchers for these individuals would be their first focus. This will be especially helpful to those patients who must have daily chemotherapy or radiation treatments.
As with most entities the amount of funds available determines how many individuals may receive assistance. The Southeast Nebraska Cancer Foundation was proud to be part of the 2008 Football 101 and the recipient of a gift of $25,000 from the Bo Pelini Foundation. These funds will allow the Foundation to help over 100 individuals during their battle against cancer.
