This is a CBS Fantasy Football post.
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We will be doing weekly posts on this and that might become a bit strained, for reasons detailed in the original post. So instead, here is a different tact. I need to know the charity of choice for everyone that signed up for the original league, anyone who has used the link to buy another team and the charity of choice for everyone involved in those leagues. Obviously, this will not cost anyone extra money. This is just my way of compromising my otherwise conflicted loyalties towards SB Nation, the company that makes Field Gulls possible, and my readership, the people that make Field Gulls matter.
To kick this off, I picked Cocoon House. I do not have any personal connection to the charity itself, and found it by sorting through four-star charities as rated by Charity Navigator. Apart from the efficiency and effectiveness of Cocoon House, my reason for picking it is its cause: at-risk and homeless youth ages 13-17.
There is a sociological theory called the "Bootstrap Myth." Basically, people typically end in the same educational spectrum and wage range as their parents. The idea that one must simply lift themselves up by their bootstraps and seize the American dream is a fraud. Children need help. For those that can't get it from their parents, there often isn't anyone else.
This is something I get. My dad did not graduate junior high. My parents met on the streets of Portland. Long story short: My dad's best friend and my mom's then boyfriend, the same man, Jack, got a hotshot of heroin and his dying wish was that my dad take care of my mom.
After high school, I was living in my car. No job, bag full of 10-cent ramen and scrimping money so that I could drive to interviews. I was just lucky enough to get a job at a Jack-in-the-Box, but I got help. I had someone I will forever love and thank that couldn't afford me staying but offered anyway, and she gave me a roof and an address. I had a family take me in for a few months until I could save for an apartment, and those people became my family. I got help, and that help gave me the boots with which to lift myself up.
As I understand it, this is what Cocoon House does. It gives that often forgotten group, teenagers that are still children but dangerously close to adulthood, a final chance to escape the cycle of poverty. I know $250 dollar is not a whole lot, but it's something and it's a start.
Tell me what you are playing for and each week I can post another charity and your reasons for selecting it.