Southpaw
Team Tebow scores touchdown for Davao children’s hospital
By Percy D. DellaPhilippine Daily Inquirer
SACRAMENTO, California—The hottest quarterback in the NFL has football in his mind and the Philippines in his heart.
Tim Tebow of the National Football League’s Denver Broncos announced recently that his Tebow Foundation and CURE International will build a new 30-bed children’s hospital in Davao City.
The $3.1-million (about P134.4 million) hospital project will be the first by the sports superstar and the charitable medical organization since forming a partnership last October.
Donors to CURE and the Foundation are sharing the costs. It is reported that all but $700,000 of the funds needed for the project have been raised.
Why the zeal to help needy kids in the Philippines?
Well, Tim Tebow was born in Makati, in 1987, while his parents were Baptist missionaries in the country. “I always have a special place in my heart for the country where I was born,” he told supporters in a video message. “I’m very excited about the project. This hospital will change the lives of thousands of children in the Philippines.”
The facility will treat children with club foot and bow legs, deformities correctable by surgery that poor people in Davao and surrounding areas cannot afford. At least a third of the patients will be treated free of charge. Tim and his family will help spread their mantra—have a little faith—by way of a planned “Timmy’s Playroom” within the hospital to teach children about faith, hope and love. “The idea is to give kids a brighter day in their darkest hour of need,” said the American sports superstar.
To be outfitted with modern equipment, the hospital will surely enrich Davao’s skyline. It will be the first to be built in the Philippines by CURE and its 11th worldwide. CURE describes itself as “the largest provider of reconstructive surgery to disabled children in the emerging world.”
The hospital will not be the first labor of love involving Tim and his family in the islands. Uncle Dick’s Home, founded by his father Bob and his own evangelistic association, is an orphanage that houses 49 tots in Surallah, South Cotabato. The Tebows are known to visit Surallah without media fanfare.
Groundbreaking for the Davao hospital is planned for January next year or earlier, depending on the Broncos’ fortunes in the NFL.
“Tim’s attention is drawn to football right now,” CURE spokeswoman Lisa Wolf told me. Lisa said “Tim’s desire” is to fly to Davao when local officials drive ceremonial shovels into the dirt for a much-needed facility.
Before turning pro, Tebow took the University of Florida to a national championship and won a Heisman Trophy in the process. Since becoming the Broncos’ starting quarterback, he has engineered seven wins in a row, all in exciting down-the-wire fashion.
With each of Tim’s perplexing comebacks in the fourth quarter, Denver has suddenly turned into a threat in the NFL. The Broncos now lead the league’s Western division after Tebow pulled off another one of his weekly miracles, a 13-10 pulse-pounding victory over the fabled Chicago Bears Sunday (Monday in Manila).
Tim rushes like a linebacker, throws those Hail Mary passes with a passion and rightly so. His religious beliefs are well-publicized, and as the Tebow train rolls on, fans and players are polarized. Their burning question: Should he keep the God stuff to himself or should he share it on national television?
The quarterback remains unperturbed. He is steadfast with his public display of prayer on the football field, a la Manny Pacquiao in the ring. Tim begins and ends his postgame chat with the media by crediting God’s help for his team’s success.
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Tags: CURE International , Denver Broncos , Football , NFL , Sports , Tebow Foundation , Tim Tebow
