FishHawk teen Ella Notel has combined her love of arguably football’s greatest quarterback, Tom ‘The GOAT’ Brady, and 1Voice Foundation to create a unique fundraising opportunity.
The Newsome High senior, who has volunteered with the 1Voice Foundation, that supports children with cancer and their families by connecting them with financial, emotional and education care as well as funding research for a cure, has learned a lot from working with the charity.
“Volunteering for this organization has opened my eyes to the number of ways I can help these families,” said Notel. The teen formed a particularly strong connection with 7-year-old cancer survivor Laurel, who went through treatment during COVID-19 and couldn’t go in public much. Notel would set up regular Zoom calls, during which they’d would talk and laugh for hours.
“The day she told me that she had beat cancer, it put a spark in me and inspired me to do more,” she said.
This is where Brady comes in. Notel admires the Buccaneer star player’s philanthropic nature. “He’s a great player on the field, but off the field he’s formed his own charitable organization and helped many other organizations,” she said.
With the help of her father, she created a website that uses Brady’s September home game statistics (his passing and running statistics) to produce an amount to donate to 1Voice Foundation. Donors identify their donation multiple, input the multiple into the formula and make the donation.
For example, during the September 11 game against the Dallas Cowboys, he completed 18 passes out of 27 attempts for a total of 212 yards, scored one touchdown, had one interception and was sacked twice. He completed no running yards. If a donor had selected a donation multiple of one cent ($0.01), the total donation amount for that game would have been $1.31.
Each game’s statistics are input within 30 minutes after the end of the game.
“Since September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month and I’m a football fan, I thought this would be a great way to raise awareness for pediatric cancer and fundraise,” said Notel. “We raised $401.86 during the first game.”
If donations increase, she is considering expanding it to other games. Her total fundraising goal for the month is $6,000.
“The donation portal is still open, and if you prefer you can do a flat donation,” she said.
For more information or to make a donation to her fundraiser, visit https://goatgifting.com.
