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Lefebvre making a difference with his Footprints Foundation Friday, May 30, 2008 By Lee Warren |
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He can recall statistics and memories from games gone by in an instant, but if you spend any time with him at all, you’ll learn more than just baseball statistics or facts. You’ll find out that he is a man who is passionate about living out his faith in Christ by helping others — mostly children in need. Lefebvre was named the 2006 Role Model of the Year by the Greater Kansas City Boys and Girls Clubs. And with good reason. A few years after he became a broadcaster, he wanted to do something that would help the community he was working in. He was broadcasting for the Minnesota Twins when he and one of his friends came up with an idea to collect baseball gloves and give them to children in urban areas whose parents couldn’t afford to purchase one for them. A week later, Lefebvre was offered a radio broadcasting position with the Royals and he accepted it. He brought his “Gloves for Kids” idea along with him and launched it on May 24, 2001. As many as eight Royals’ players show up at a local sporting goods store annually to sign autographs and take photos with fans who pay a fee to interact with the big leaguers, and the proceeds go to the Gloves for Kids program. “There are kids who want to play baseball, but they want a good glove to play catch with their dad or with their friends or when they’re on the team,” Lefebvre said. “So, it began with getting kids their first glove and then it stretched into getting them some equipment so they could become involved in something and be a part of a team and keep them off the streets and maybe be influenced by a coach or a mentor.” One year, the program raised enough money to purchase and distribute 1,000 baseball gloves. Since the program’s inception, it has spread to other major league cities such as Detroit, Pittsburgh and Minneapolis. The program is under the umbrella of an organization Lefebvre started called The Footprints Foundation — which draws its name from the famous “Footprints” poem. The foundation is “dedicated to improving the lives of underprivileged youth in the greater Kansas City area” according to the foundation’s website. One of the ways Lefebvre’s foundation seeks to improve the lives of underprivileged youth is by helping them get plugged into good mentoring programs. The Footprints Foundation works with local organizations that place a high priority on using mentors who are people of character. Lefebvre knows firsthand about the need to be around good mentors. When he was in high school, several adults that he respected pointed him toward God. They planted a seed that eventually blossomed. “Through some difficulties that I had in college and after college, I just found myself drawn to go to church; just to have the emptiness filled up with God and not with alcohol, or drugs, or women, or possessions,” Lefebvre said. “God just laid down a path for me that allowed me to be influenced by mentors and people who have given me a good example.” Those examples stick in his mind as he now seeks to provide others with good examples. That’s one of the reasons he thinks it is important for his foundation to be involved with faith-based groups and groups that are not faith-based. “Christ didn’t spend his whole life looking for believers,” Lefebvre said. “In fact, he ministered to non-believers. He ministered to people who were ignored by everyone else. So, I believe every organization is important. In fact, I think that sometimes that the non-faith organizations are more important. Are we adding to the kingdom or are we just huddling up with our own little group and pointing fingers at the non-believers? What if the 12 apostles just decided to hang out amongst themselves and never left one another to spread the Word? Christianity would have died a long time ago. “It was all about turning non-believers into believers, first and foremost by an example. I think there’s a reason why one of the last things Christ said — and what he said was the most important commandment — was to not only love God, but to love others as you love yourself.” Lefebvre held his annual Gloves for Kids event in the Kansas City area on May 12. If you’d like to find out more, you can go to www.kcfootprints.com. --30--
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