Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d be blogging about the Superbowl (especially here of all places!). While the husband is a huge football (Indianapolis Colts) fan, I can live with or without it. This past season was a rough one for Colts fans, but the city of Indianapolis is now gearing up to host the New England Patriots and the New York Giants for this year’s Superbowl XLVI.
Being impartial to the whole process of Superbowl preparations over the past few years, I haven’t paid much attention to what the city has been up to. Sure, I’ve heard bits and pieces now and again, but all in all I have more important things to worry about! Over the past few weeks, it’s been getting harder to avoid as it’s been on the news, radio, and most other media outlets CONSTANTLY! Excitement is definitely building as the finishing touches are made, not to mention the economic possibilities that many in the city are counting on.
This morning I had the news on to watch the weather (crazy stuff going on around here!), and I caught another Superbowl story… yet this one was different than most of the others I’ve heard. It’s actually really cool!
As clueless as I am about this whole process, I learned that the NFL gives each Superbowl host city 1 million dollars (I can’t even type that without picturing Dr. Evil from Austin Powers!) to be matched locally to renovate, expand, or build a youth center in a disadvantaged neighborhood to leave a lasting legacy of the impact the “big game” has on the community. The news journalist went on to explain all of the state of the art fitness and health programs the new Chase Near Eastside Legacy Center will provide for the community’s residents. While I thought that was nice, I was even more surprised to hear the rest of the story… The center will also include outside gardens, a greenhouse, and an educational kitchen. These wonderful additions will not only be used to teach the families there how to grow their own local, healthy food, but also how to prepare it!
While trying to research the facts more online, I noticed that most of the focus was on the sports/fitness/community center aspect of the building, but I’m still impressed by the fact that they’ve considered the importance of adding these tools for the city bound people of this neighborhood. You can bet I’ll be keeping an eye out to see the outcome of this special project. I’m in a rural suburb of the city, so I’m blessed with land to plant my own garden, as well as a car to drive me to get the things I can’t provide for myself.
So what do you think about “the big game”? What are your thoughts about projects of this nature?
This is a great project, I’m glad to see a garden is being included. As an avid gardener I think it is very important for people to learn to grow their own food. Think of the pressure we could take off the food system if everyone learned to eat seasonally and to grow their own vegetables.
Besides everyone needs to learn how much better home grown produce tastes, as compared to the commercially grown junk in the grocery store!!
Interesting, I had no idea they did things like this. I’m not much a football fan, we sometimes get together with friends, usually I spend the evening cooking and eating.