We’re excited to announce the winners of CFGI’s Annual Charity Football Pool, which has been running for over 10 years. Set up as a Survivor-style NFL football pool, each participant picks an NFL team weekly. If they select a losing team more than once during the season, the participant is eliminated from the pool.
Each year, CFGI donates a total of $20,000 to the charities chosen by the victors. Thank you to everyone who participated in this season; learn more about the winners and their designated charities’ mission statements below:
1st Place: James (Andy) Vogt, CFGI
Born to Run Foundation ($2,500)
The Born to Run Foundation provides specialized prosthetics to young adults and children who want to live fun and fulfilling lives. The organization’s goal is to show amputees that having a disability does not mean they are incapable of playing sports and being active, and to show them that being different is something to embrace.
Kids Chance of Massachusetts ($2,500)
Kids Chance provides educational scholarships to the children of Massachusetts workers who have been catastrophically or fatally injured in work-related accidents.
National Alliance on Mental Illness Massachusetts ($2,500)
NAMI seeks to improve the quality of life for people living with mental health conditions, their families, and their caregivers. The organization works to ensure that all people impacted by mental health conditions receive the support they need, when they need it. NAMI’s advocates use their voices as people and families with lived experience to challenge discrimination and advocate for a more equitable and just world.
Cradles to Crayons Boston ($2,500)
Cradles to Crayons provides children from birth through age 12 living in homeless or low-income situations with the essential items they need to thrive – at home, at school and at play. The group supplies these items free of charge by engaging and connecting communities.
2nd & 3rd Place Tie: Keri Blanks, Tipalti
Dove House Children’s Advocacy Center ($3,750)
Dove House Children’s Advocacy Center serves child victims of sexual assault and their non-offending family members in Alexander and Iredell Counties in North Carolina. The center’s mission is to minimize trauma, promote healing, and enhance investigation and prosecution for child-victims of sexual abuse through advocacy, intervention, collaboration and education.
2nd & 3rd Place Tie: Robert Woodard, PerkinElmer
We Beat Cancer ($2,000)
We Beat Cancer works with Hospitals, Cancer Support Groups and other Foundations in the New England area to provide financial aid with parking, meals, transportation and other support services.
Rachel Branagan Educational Foundation ($1,750)
Rachel was a bright and articulate seven-year-old with an insatiable appetite for learning. She had just started the third grade when she lost her long battle with cancer in September of 2003. The Rachel Branagan Foundation’s goal is to provide enrichment opportunities that will encourage other children to “explore the world around them” with the enthusiasm Rachel had. The foundation’s goal is simple: to help spark a life-long love of learning in elementary students throughout New England.
4th & 5th Place Tie: Matthew Borowski, CFGI
Britepaths ($500)
Britepaths provides short-term safety-net services to neighbors in need while empowering them to work toward long-term self-sufficiency. The organization delivers its services with respect, compassion, and equity, always preserving the dignity and self-esteem of its clients.
4th & 5th Place Tie: Ken Dumas, LoJack Corporation
Fund for Xaverian – Financial Aid ($500)
The Fund for Xaverian helps make it possible for 57% of the students at Xaverian Brothers High School to secure much needed tuition assistance and offsets the cost of tuition for all students by $2,000.
4th & 5th Place Tie: Libby Merrill, GCP
Easterseals Massachusetts ($500)
Easterseals Massachusetts provides essential programs and services to children and adults with disabilities throughout the state. The organization’s mission is to ensure that children and adults with disabilities have equal opportunities to live, learn, work and play.
4th & 5th Place Tie: Stephen Nesbit, Keator Group LLC
Soldier On ($500)
Since 1994, Soldier On has been providing homeless veterans with transitional housing and supportive services. In 2010, the organization opened the first Gordon H. Mansfield Veterans Community, a permanent housing cooperative that provides formerly homeless veterans with safe, sustainable, and affordable housing – transitioning them from homelessness to homeownership.
4th & 5th Place Tie: William Stella, Merrill Lynch
Cody Jude Barrasse Foundation ($500)
The Cody Jude Barrasse Memorial Foundation was founded in 2013, shortly after Cody’s tragic death. The goal of the foundation is to keep Cody’s fiery spirit alive in the local community through the promotion of organ donor awareness and to raise money for a full scholarship at Scranton Preparatory School.