PAX of F3 Omaha, we kicked off 2021 with a strong message from Brazilian and Roadhouse, “Get Busy Living,” and started to lay the foundation (literally with bricks) for an incredible year that led to us having a tremendous impact in our community. Our January 2, 2021 CSAUP helped raise the original seed funds, roughly $5000, to create the financial momentum and foundation we needed. We have experienced exponential growth and this message serves as an opportunity to connect the men of our region. While we are spread out geographically, we are connected by our mission to invigorate male community leaders. The purpose of this letter is to share 1. the mission of our F3 Omaha Foundation we established this year as we have a lot of new PAX members that may not know, 2. Report on the success we had, 3. Follow through on our commitment of transparency, and 4. Share the direction going forward.
As Covid shutdown the world in March of 2020, F3 Omaha accelerated, and many leaders and opportunities emerged. In late May/early June, the country was full of uncertainty and unrest. These two events led to Sparty searching for his D2X (an F3 term used to describe a focused effort on where you accelerate in life) and how he could help make an impact in the community. He approached Tater Tot and Wait Time with an opportunity to start a CSAUP that could raise money intended to generate funds for a scholarship that would go to a young man in Omaha. From there, they included Lemon Law in the conversation as he was the 3rd F Q, as well as Big One who was our Weasel Shaker. It was suggested that maybe we create our own 501(c)3. So then we needed a lawyer……and No Doze stepped up big time to help make this happen. At this point, we had 6 HIM and knew we needed an odd number for voting purposes, but this would also be an opportunity to include another HIM to make us even better. And Brazilian joined the squad. Our initial mission was to create a scholarship opportunity for a young man in Omaha who’s values and example of leadership align with ours. We said from day one that we didn’t want this scholarship to be a charity check. We agreed that we would commit to four years in paying it out, and more importantly, connecting the young men with F3 through mentorship. We knew that if we wanted to make a big impact, we needed to raise as many funds as possible, and the Brick Builder was born.
The Brick Builder is a CSAUP style event that requires a tremendous amount of planning and coordination. To help maximize the opportunity to raise as many funds as possible, we reached out to several local businesses that helped sponsor the event. We had 17 officially recognized and a handful of other businesses that donated in support of our mission bringing in $16,600. The inaugural event had 88 participants competing in teams of 4 and we opened up registration to M’s, FIA, FAF, friends of the PAX, and sponsors. The night before, we hosted a party for the PAX and their families at Stinson Park, the home of Cornhusker Handicap/Heavy Metal/The Brickyard in which Honey Stinger and Ponzi put together live music, food trucks, games, and a silent auction that raised around $9,000. We raised an additional $6,500 in donations. Big shout outs to the men that helped lead this charge: Tater Tot, Jean-Claude, Icy Hot, Polaroid, Big One, Othello, Bubbles, Khakis, Sparty, and all the PAX that volunteered the day of the event.
All of this time, effort, and money was done to create opportunities for young men. In year one we decided to award the scholarship to 2 incredible young men – Andra Williams & Jabez Anderson. Andra is a recent graduate of Omaha North and currently attends UNO. He is known in F3 as Tron, and other than when he gets done running, you will always see a giant smile on his face. He has a powerful story, is incredibly smart, and his spirit lights up the world! We made our connection with him through NorthStar and his mentor is our man U-Haul. Jabez graduated from Roncalli and attends Midland University where he is on the wrestling team. He is someone that worked really hard over his four years in high school to continuously improve his grades while eventually emerging as a leader at Boys & Girls Club in Florence. Starting this 2nd semester, Armbar will be stepping up to be his mentor. While these two are very different, they both are men of integrity, they have strong values, a deep faith, and natural leadership qualities. In our first year, we feel we could not have selected two better scholarship recipients and we are so grateful to have them a part of our F3 Omaha family.
We set off with the goal to raise $20,000 in year one. The June 2021 Brick Builder Event alone brought in around $32,000 total. Outside of the Brick Builder, the Foundation also received funds from Queen Service, CSAUP, and personal donations. To date, we’ve raised a total of $41,359.97. For our first two recipients we committed to paying out $4,000 each year, for the next 4-years split 50/50 between Andra and Jabez. Additionally, we have invested a total of $12,346.34 year to date which has gone to F3 Omaha partnerships such as Avenue Scholars, NorthStar, Heartland Hope, the Brick Builder Event and the Community Leaders Scholarships. We have $12,000 of our remaining balance saved for Andra and Jabez for the next 3 years to help pay for tuition.
Going forward, the Brick Builder event and Scholarship will continue to be a priority for Sparty, the F3 Omaha Foundation and hopefully for many of our PAX. Our financial and scholarship goal is to be able to award $20,000 total each year to scholarship recipients in addition to partnering with other community philanthropic endeavors. It is important to know that only money received for the BB will be used for the scholarship(s). This is not an ask of the PAX to grow this fund each year. The F3 Omaha Foundation will also serve as a resource to support a variety of causes our PAX are passionate about. A great example of a way to work with the Foundation was the Adopt a Family this Christmas season with Heartland Hope. We encourage the PAX to continue to explore what the ULP (Ultimate Life Problem) you are looking to solve and work with the Foundation if you feel the two align.
The last two things worth noting going into 2022, we want to thank our brother Lemon Law who was a part of this from the beginning. As a Redwood, his passion and desire to want to make an impact continually pushed us to get the ball down the field. He recently moved to Kearney, NE to take on a new opportunity that we are all excited about for him. Thank you, Brother! This opened up a position on our Board of Directors and our man Jean-Claude has accepted the opportunity. It is impossible to look at the growth and acceleration in Sarpy County without acknowledging the role and leadership he has provided to make this happen. We anticipate the Swagger he created in the Gloom down south will translate to the Foundation. Welcome JC! The 2nd item for 2022 is to put May 21 on your calendar for the Brick Builder. If you have any questions for The F3 Omaha Foundation, please don’t hesitate to reach out to any of our Board members: Sparty, Big One, Wait Time, Jean-Claude, Tater Tot, No Doze, Brazilian. We encourage you to help build this out as our mission continues to be making an impact in our community and we can’t do that without the PAX.
F3 Omaha Foundation,
Aye!