An Illinois football team has raised over $100,000 over the last seven years in memory of a local 9-year-old girl who died. And now, her twin brother is a starting wide receiver on the team.
The Potratz family of Mount Prospect, Ill., lost their 9-year-old daughter, Alyssa, to Graves’ disease in 2008.
Recently, after seven years of fundraising, members of the Prospect (Ill.) football team – including Alyssa’s twin brother and Prospect starting wide receiver, Jeremy – reached its goal of raising $100,000 for Shriners Hospital for Children in Chicago in memory of Alyssa.
“The Potratz family lives across the street from the high school, so when the football games would run too late, they would walk back home and Alyssa would listen to the end of the game in her bedroom as she fell asleep,” Prospect head football coach Mike Sebestyen told the Tribune. “Alyssa was such a big fan of our program, so when we got word of her passing, we knew we had to do something for this amazing young girl who was on this earth for only a short time.”
The acts of kindness started with an initiative started by the Potratz’s themselves. When Alyssa Potratz dies in 2008, the family was looking for ways to cope during the holiday season. Alyssa’s mother, Maria, her father, Dan, along with Jeremy, decided to put up a Christmas tree in their front yard, where people could leave an ornament in Alyssa’s memory or in memory of someone they knew. They put up a sign letting visitors know that they didn’t need to come inside, but could ring a bell when they put up an ornament.
“We got an amazing response,” Maria Potratz told the Tribune.
Among those who came by was Sebestyen. Over the last seven years, he and the program have raised funds in Alyssa’s honor.
The numbers have truly added up in reaching the $100K mark.
The team earned the donations through fundraisers and special events the football team holds each year to pay for their uniforms and equipment, Sebestyen said told the Tribune, with team members rallying to collect an additional 20 percent. That amount is earmarked for the hospital’s general fund.
Maria Potratz said she is still comforted by the support from local high school’s football team.
“We are so taken by how open and kind this team has been to our family … it’s just not what one would expect from teenage boys, whether they’re football players or not,” Potratz said. “Our Christmas tree is in our front window, so when people walk by our house, they can see it, and know that we’re still using the ornaments, and they’re bringing us joy.”