Harrison Township dad, daughter head to big game
You might call it the ultimate daddy-daughter date.
Harrison Township resident Jim Harris and his 16-year-old daughter, Anna, will be among thousands in attendance today to watch the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers battle in the Super Bowl.
“I still can’t believe it,” said Harris, as he and his youngest daughter prepared to leave Friday for Tampa, Fla., site of Super Bowl XLIII.
“I was shocked … I never thought that I’d be going to something like that.”
The trip was made possible by Yatooma’s Foundation for the Kids, a non-profit organization founded in 2003 by Norman Yatooma to honor his father, Manuel. Ten years earlier, Manuel Yatooma was murdered when he interrupted a carjacking. He left a wife and four sons.
Based in Birmingham, the foundation lists as its mission to help families with children who have lost parents. The organization has worked with Harris and his daughters, Anna and Becky, whose mother died from cancer in 2002.
Harris, who battles health problems of his own that keep him from working, found himself a single parent with daughters then 10 and 15 years old when his wife died.
He learned of Yatooma’s Foundation for the Kids on a television news broadcast and contacted the organization.
The foundation provides a litany of services to families, including financial assistance, grief counseling, support groups, legal help and education programs, to name just a few. The foundation may work with a family for many months or even years.
“Yatooma’s Foundation for the Kids cannot replace a lost parent,” the organization’s Web site reads. “No one can. But we are committed to doing all that we can to minimize the hurt and bring tenderness to tragedy.”
Jennifer Viano, the foundation’s executive director, said part of the effort to help stabilize families following the loss of one or both parents is to provide “fun ways” for them to spend time together and build memories.
“These packages are really bonuses in their lives,” she said.
Donors have come forward with entertainment packages like suites for Pistons and Red Wings games, but when one benefactor offered an expenses-paid weekend at America’s premier sporting event, even Viano was amazed.
“We’re just very fortunate they’re so generous,” she said.
For Harris, the presence of the Arizona Cardinals as one of the Super Bowl teams adds spice. He has relatives in Arizona, including one nephew “who is very jealous.”
But the family’s rooting interest is split. Anna is a fan of the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins and that loyalty will transfer to the Steelers come Sunday.
“It’s going to be interesting,” Harris said. “Maybe I can bet her something.”
The Super Bowl trip may be just the frosting on the cake for Harris. He praised Yatooma’s Foundation for the Kids for the help and support it’s given his family.
“I wish other organizations could help kids that lose their parents,” he said. “They’ve helped us out so much. I can’ say enough for them.”
For more information about Yatooma’s Foundation for the Kids, visit the organization’s Web site at forthekidsfoundation.org or call (888) 987-5437.
Yatooma’s Foundation for the Kids will hold its fourth annual Champions for the Kids VIP Dinner/Auction and Golf Tournament June 7 and June 8. The dinner will be held at the Townsend Hotel and the golf tournament at Oakland Hills Country Club. For more information, call (888) 987-5437.
