Congrats Detroit Westside Cubs

[Wingnatic]

This story started out last month on Channel 7 '' Call For Action'' by Bill Spencer looking for a donation so a youngster could make the trip with the team to the National Jr. Championship game in Florida , turns out the whole team of 4th 5th and 7th graders could afford the trip either .Enter the UAW , Ford Motor Co. and Tigers great Willie Horton ... Just reported on the news tonight that the tean did win the Championship by a score of 24-0 .Kudo's to the coaches and young men who practiced hard to make the D proud .

DETROIT [[WXYZ) - He is just 13-years-old and stands just four feet tall but little Jowaun White of Detroit has had one dream from the time he was old enough to hold a football.
Jowaun has always wanted to play football in the championship game.
Now, Jowaun’s team, The Westside Cubs, have made it to The American Youth Football League National Championships in Orlando, Florida.
There’s just one problem; Jowaun couldn’t come up with the $455.00 it would take to get him there.
So, Jowaun called me asking Channel 7 to take action for him.
I reported on his story earlier this week and I asked our viewers to contact me if they wanted to help.
And you won’t believe who called first.
Willie Horton. Yes, that Willie Horton.
Can you believe it?
Horton, the legendary Tiger superstar, hero of the 1968 World Championship-winning Detroit Tigers, called offering to pay the entire price tag for Jowaun’s trip to Florida.
And last night, at his West Bloomfield home, Willie made good on his promise.
Willie wrote out a personal check and then proceeded to spend the next two hours of his time talking to Jowaun, his grandmother Dorothy, and his older brother Dion.
Not only that but Willie wants to come to one of Jowaun’s games next year.
As for Jowaun, he told me, “Mr. Horton is a really great man. Not just a great baseball player, but truly, really, he is a big, big, big man with a big heart.”
So, Jowaun is going to the game, but there are still about 30 other players on the Cubs team who are struggling to pay their way to the championship, according to Kim Tandy, president of the league.



DETROIT [[WXYZ) - It’s not every day you get to help dozens of kids achieve a dream.
But on Friday, all 200 kids who play for the Detroit Westside Cubs, on all three championship football teams, are going to Orlando, Florida to play in the Junior Football National Championships.
This possible thanks to a massive donation on Friday, a check for $11, 830 made by the UAW and Ford Motor Company.
Darryl Nolen, a man who helps negotiate contracts for hourly employees at the UAW, delivered the donation check to head coach William Tandy of the Westside Cubs, saying, “on behalf of UAW Ford we want to give you this check to cover all expenses for those 26 kids… to cover the remaining balance owed.”
It was an emotional moment and to think it all started with 13-year-old Jawaun White of Detroit.
He wrote me last week, asking me to help get him the $455 he needed to travel with his team to the championship game.
That’s about the time I found out there were a total of 26 other football players and cheerleaders, who also didn’t have the money to make the trip.
And it’s not just the football players. The cheerleaders are going too.
Why would the UAW and Ford Motor Company care so much about a bunch of kids playing football from Detroit?
Because all of these kids get a lot more than just sports skills out of the Westside Cubs.
Several parents of those children told us their kids are constantly being urged to work hard in school, they learn discipline and they are pushed by their coaches to respect their parents.
The 200 kids from three different football teams will board a series of buses bound for Orlando, Florida, all of them bound and determined to win the national championship trophy.
Channel 7 Action News will keep you posted as to how they do in the game.

[firstandten]

That's a great story and I'm glad the football and cheer team can make it to Orlando however the West Side Clubs are a long standing organization in which a number of NFL players from Detroit got their football start. I would like to see more of a fundraising effort out of that organization. It was their decision to leave PAL for a more high profile national youth football league and they need to figure out how to budget for these trips to Florida and other places. Generally they are going to be good on a yearly basis, and they have alumni they should be working with to give back to that organization. So while this trip is a nice feel good story what happens next year when they probably will earn there way back to Orlando?