On September 30, 2014 I had a water pipe burst in a back bedroom which was home to close to a million of my favorite and most valuable cards in my sports card collection. I lost over 200,000 cards to water damage. Don't feel too sorry for me because I still have millions of cards left, but the loss, and the fact that the insurance company is doing everything they possibly can to get out of paying me for the loss, has made me do a lot of thinking. I’m retired, not getting any younger, my wife hates my baseball cards because they have always taken up so much space in our homes, and my kids have absolutely no interest in ever owning my collection.
These facts, and the fact that I don't ever want to go through what my insurance company is presently putting me through ever again, has helped me decide to liquidate a large portion of my collection. I thought about selling the collection, but then it would be all about money and nothing more. My sports card collection is part of who I am, and has been since I was a little kid. I want my collection to be more than just about money. So I decided to start by giving some of my cards away just to find them good homes.
Then a Grandfather told his daughter Sam (Samantha) in Wyoming about what I was doing and she emailed me and told me about her son Cannon who was in the hospital, but would be coming home soon. She told me little ten year old Cannon was a huge Broncos fan and he loved Peyton Manning so I immediately put together pages of famous Broncos players, and one full page of Peyton Manning cards, and sent them off Priority Mail.
A couple of days after sending the cards Sam wrote me an email and told me that what I did was actually the best medicine in the world for her son. A week later I received a letter from little Cannon thanking me and I sat there with tears running down my cheeks. Less than a week later it was an email from a little girl named Lisa from Ohio that had just had her second hip surgery thanking me for sending her Steelers cards that made me cry like a baby. Then on Valentine's Day she emailed me a card she drew of a kicker kicking a heart shaped football through the goalpost that said "Coach Hoffman I would get a kick out of you if you would be my Valentine". It was very similar to the valentine little Cannon sent me.
After receiving these letters and emails from the parents I did some real soul searching and decided to start a private not for profit foundation called "Cards for Kids". My plan is to give away my entire collection (with the exception of some of my favorite cards which I have collected since childhood) to hospitalized kids, and kids at home that are having a tough time health wise and could use a smile and some cheering up.
I have put together a solid support team of family and friends to ensure the success of our Foundation, and I am dedicating the rest of my life to making as many kids happy as I possibly can through Cards for Kids. As the Foundation grows and we need additional help there are thousands of my former players that I know would love to get involved helping kids.
Sincerely,
Coach H.
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