DreamLink teams with ACME supermarkets
Jaworski Foundation to Provide For Families
By Ozzie James
Terron Adkins got the go ahead he needed.
After waiting patiently for the picture taking and interviews
to conclude the gangly junior at Urban Promise Academy
in Camden, NJ grabbed a shopping cart and didn’t
look back. He sprinted down aisles scooping up ice cream
and cookies. He paused briefly to place a call to his mother
to ask what food they needed. The meat section became his
priority.
It was his first shopping trip in months,
but it would be the first of 12 consecutive trips thanks
to a collaborative effort between Philadelphia-based ACME
supermarkets, former Philadelphia Eagle quarterback Ron
Jaworski’s Foundation and DreanLink Foundation. Adkins
and another area family received food for a year as part
of an initiative to celebrate the good things happening
in community across the country.
They received these awards
during the taping of a new television series DreamLink
Foundation developed called Every Day Heroes. The series
takes the efforts of the DreamLink Foundation to make dreams
come true and brings them to life for millions of people
to see.
“Our goal was to demonstrate our
foundation’s
mission through the telling of stories using the biggest
medium available… television,” DreamLink
founder Lamont Graves said. “We wanted to create
a television program that showed what we do and how we
help people. Terron and Sandy (Abrante, another recipient)
hopefully will be the first of many people’s stories
we tell. There are a lot of foundations out there doing
great work. The problem is no one ever hears about them.”
Both
recipients were recommended through Urban Promise, a Camden,
NJ organization that provides a multitude of services for
underprivileged people in their community. Adkins is a
student and Abrante’s
three children attend after-school programs at the three
acre facility.
“I don’t know what to say,” Adkins
said. “I’m just happy that I received this.
It’s hard sometime
to eat right. I have to skip breakfast because there’s
nothing in the house. Thank you for this. Food for a year.
Wow.”
Jaworski’s Jaws Youth Fund has raised
$1.5 million since 1999 to provide for area youth. He teamed
with ACME Supermarkets to provide food for those in need.
They co-sponsor a golf event in the fall to help grow the
fund. Jaworski has a celebrity golf challenge in the spring,
as well.
“I’m so glad I’m a
position to provide for people who can’t always do
for themselves,” Jaworski
said. “Football, and now television, has put me in
a position to earn a great living. I believe you should
do good things for people if you’ve
been fortunate enough to achieve in life.”
DreamLink
has initiated a series of events to help make people’s
dreams come true. In addition to the television series,
they do a yearly Christmas event at various places in the
country, including near its home base of Pembroke Pines,
FL.
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