Foundation helps disadvantaged youth shine

Ryan Miller met his best friends Luke Fickell and Mike Vrabel on the Ohio State football team. They came in together as freshman and became close friends over the four years they spent at OSU.

"We developed such a close relationship through our bond with OSU athletics," Miller said.

The three had more in common than just football. The football team was involved in a number of community service products, including Habitat for Humanity. It also frequented area elementary schools, where the players would read to students.

"We thought 'boy, this is nice,'" Miller said. " 'Maybe this is something we can continue once we graduate.''

The three graduated in 1997 and football sent them all in different directions. Fickell spent a year on the injured reserve list for the New Orleans Saints, Miller was off to the New York Jets training camp and Vrabel was drafted by and played for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"In the offseason, we just thought," Miller said. "'Let's do something.' We wanted to raise money and start buying books for kids in the inner city."

The three decided to hold a football camp in Westerville, Ohio and charged $55 a person. They then used the money from the camp to buy books.

"We just took the money we raised to Borders," Miller said. "And bought as many books as we could and started calling principals in the city to see how many second graders they had at their schools."

They targeted schools based on socio-economic background and those who needed help with literacy, Miller said.

"We knew we wanted to do inner-city schools," Fickell said, "Probably because when we grew up we had it a little easier than some. It was one of the best things we could get involved with."

All of their resources allowed them to give every second grader in seven schools a book.

With this, the 2nd and 7 foundation was born.

"That's how we came up with the name," Miller said. " Second graders in seven schools. 2nd and 7."

As the three established the foundation, they continued to hold their football camp. The second year of camp they raised enough money to go to 14 schools, Miller said. Each year they continued to attract more participants to camp and raise more money for the foundation.

"It began to grow so much that we couldn't physically go to all the schools," Miller said. "But we saw there were a lot of people who wanted to help out. We're fortunate to have so many volunteers that help coordinate with the schools. We used to just call the schools and ask when we could come, now we come every Thursday and Friday."

The foundation also got OSU involved when it started the Tackle Illiteracy program, which is now in its second year.

"The student-athletes from the university go in our place now," Miller said.

The program benefits both the children and the student-athletes, Fickell said.

"It's a great experience both ways," he said. "You can see how happy some of the kids are when you show up with football players to read to them. It's great for the college athletes to get that experience too."

The foundation is approaching its 10th anniversary and will be holding its ninth annual FUNdamental football camp this summer June 30-July 2 at Hillard Weaver Middle School. To mark their anniversary, they have published a book as a foundation and will be distributing 50,000 copies next school year.

The book will be called "The Hog Mollys and the Pickle Pie Party," and each year the Hog Mollys will be going on different adventures, Miller said.

"Before we were just buying books," Fickell said. "This time we've actually got one of our own."

The foundation has come a long way since their beginning, but there is still more they hope to accomplish. They hope to give every second grader in the state of Ohio a book, Miller said.

"It's not that we hope all these kids become athletes," he said. "We just hope that we affect them and hope they continue to learn and get an education. And we hope they come back and read to kids in their own community. That would just be unbelievable."

Megan Savage can be reached at savage.119@osu.edu.