April 22, 2020
It is a time that most of us have never experienced, a pandemic that requires us to limit time with others. As time goes on we understand how hard it is to have little personal time with parents, grandparents, or other loved ones. We sit alone and ask ourselves ‘what can we do to make life a little better for us and others?
Then thoughts go out to those who are on the front line in this battle; hospitals, healthcare providers, first responders, all of the people who face this hideous disease on a daily basis, trying to protect other and themselves. How to help? First, stay in place and follow direction in our places of residence. What can be done to assist those who fight this battle daily?
Stepping up there are two athletes, one who helped torture Philly area teams when he played at Pitt and another who is still tearing up the NFL, work together now at READY. They are Pat Cavanaugh, former Pitt basketball player, and Aaron Donald, star for the LA Rams and also a Pitt grad. The company is a national sports nutrition company that works with thousands of collegiate and amateur athletes to achieve peak performance with healthy drinks and snacks, and wants to do more. If you have been to games involving any of the local Atlantic 10 teams you have probably seen their products, and they also service many area stores, from Costco to Walmart as well. Now they have made donations of protein water and protein bars to frontline healthcare providers and first responders in both the Northeast and in Los Angeles, with more efforts to come.
“Giving back to the community has always been a big element of our company DNA and is what drives Aaron as well,” Cavanaugh said this week. “We work with so many teams and groups, like The AAU, that have kids and families who need an assist, so this came naturally to us. We helped with the wild fires in LA last fall, and when we saw what was unfolding now, we wanted to do something. My sister is a nurse and my parents are retired school teachers, and I am just amazed at the courage and the sacrifice our healthcare workers and first responders are making. It wasn’t a question of where or when, it was a question of how much and how quickly can we contribute, and that won’t stop now.”
One of the beneficiaries of the generosity of Cavanaugh, Donald and Ready will be Cooper Healthcare in Camden, NJ.
“When we started with our partners in Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, we wanted to see what other communities we have been involved, and both Philadelphia and Northern New Jersey made sense for a number of reasons,” Cavanaugh added. “The Atlantic 10 is a long term partner of ours, and we also recognized areas that might not have been getting the most attention, so through a colleague we identified these two important places, and that’s how we connected. They are every bit as valuable as any facility in the country, and that importance cannot be overstated given the underserved communities they are serving.”
Additionally, Holy Name in Teaneck, NJ will see a donation.
There have been donations provided to Allegheny Health Network, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, and VA Hospitals in Pittsburgh. The LA County/USC Medical Center Healthcare System also received a large donation. They have donated over 9,999 cases of their Ready Protein Water. The number was decided to signify Donald’s jersey number for the LA Rams.
The total dollar amount exceeds $100,000 and Ready is handling costs including staffing and delivery.
No gestures are too small or too big in our current environment. Giving lifts the spirits of those who receive and just as much to those who give.
“We always bring a team first mentality to everything we do in our business; and we are always striving to take that next step forward,” Cavanaugh concluded. “That is how we have built our business and our communities. Giving is what we do, and we believe the little we can do now to help in this crisis opportunity comes back in the future; inspiring others to help and this will be no different.”
Written By: Glenn Papazian
Contact: Glenn@PhillyCollegeSports.com
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