In 1977, Father Paul Sheridan, SJ, an educator in St. Louis, MO, created a new program—Boys Hope Girls Hope—to address the needs of children whose potential was threatened by shattered neighborhoods, distressed families, endemic poverty, and other factors beyond their control. In 1979, Father Sheridan reached out to New York Giants owner, Wellington Mara and together they founded the New York Metropolitan area Boys Hope Girls Hope to provide educational resources to children in need.
BHGHNY serves its scholars through a boarding program model—the only one of its kind in all of New York. At its most rudimentary level, BHGHNY’s work is an effort to rescue children and to provide them with an environment that celebrates academic achievement and promotes service to others as the bedrock of community-building and the actualization of self-worth. It is important to note that 100% of these high school students are accepted into four year college institutions with an average of 85% of them receiving full tuition packages.
Each year at the BHGH Annual Visions Of Hope Fundraising dinner there is a presentation of the Ann and Wellington Mara Award. This award is presented to an individual who has made outstanding contributions to better the lives of those less fortunate. The honoree has been a giant in the world of charitable and philanthropy giving and has dedicated himself to the betterment of the community.
Travis Burnett
A pioneer in the flag football community, Travis helped co-found the Flag Football World Championship Tour, FlagSpin and USA Flag. Featuring 15+ years of content creation for the sport of flag football, creating and managing the largest flag football tournaments on the planet, coaching experience at the youth and adult level as well as an active player with National and World Championship level experience.
