Parker clan believes in giving back

That you never heard of the Parker family of Jacksonville, Fla., a couple years ago is normal. If don't know the Parker family of Evans, Ga., now, you soon will.

• Comments (3)
• E-mail
• 

• Photos

Annette M. Drowlette/Staff

Evans resident Cathy Parker stands behind photos of one of her three sons, Clemson quarterback Kyle Parker, who routinely helps out at football camps.

Advertisement

Few families have become so ubiquitous in a community in such short order. Even fewer families are as productive.

You've probably heard of Kyle Parker, a two-sport star at Clemson now leading the Tigers as quarterback.

You might remember his father, Carl, who was a wide receiver at Vanderbilt in the mid-1980s, got drafted in the 12th round by the Cincinnati Bengals and played in the NFL for six seasons.

You might run into second son Collin, who left his two-sport talent in high school and enrolled at Augusta Tech.

You can check out this paper's high school player of the week to learn more about Kendal, a junior linebacker at unbeaten Lakeside High.

And if you follow softball, youngest sister Cara is making a name for herself as a freshman shortstop on the Lakeside varsity.

"Thank goodness they didn't get their athletic talent from their momma," said Cathy Parker, who just moved to Evans with her kids in March after her husband transferred here as general manager of Advance Disposal.

Cathy Parker understands how blessed their family has been in sports. She believes those blessings should be shared with those less fortunate.

"We teach our children that when God blesses you, it's not just for you, it's for others," she said. "You need to see how you can repay that."

She put that lesson to concrete use after seeing an ESPN documentary on a high school football team in Barrow, Alaska, the nation's northernmost city where the dropout and suicide rates were disproportionately high. Parker fixated on the fact that the football team was playing on a gravel field.

With her kids' school installing a plush artificial turf field in Florida, Parker set about trying to get the same for kids she didn't know in a town 4,000 miles away.

Project Alaska Turf began in February 2007 and raised $850,000. The new blue field was installed by August, in time for the 2007 season.

"In Alaska, that was something we could do for kids who needed it desperately," she said. "They didn't have what our kids have and it changed that community. Now we continue to do things that will give kids who normally wouldn't have opportunities to play that opportunity."

Parker established Athletes to Champions, a nonprofit organization which aspires to equip, inspire and develop character in kids through athletics. The past two years, the Parkers have started and helped run summer sports camps in North Carolina and Pop Warner leagues in Florida.

Most recently they provided the football equipment for 110 kids on three teams to help bolster a revitalized park in Jacksonville that had been overrun by drugs instead of families.

"That's 110 kids whose lives are going to be changed because they are involved in athletics," she said.

The whole family helps in these endeavors. Carl, Kyle and Kendal all pitched in at the Power Cross football camp in Statesville, N.C., last summer.

"When I see my kids do those kinds of things -- like Kyle mentoring these kids and showing them how to play and encouraging them to stay in school and do well -- that far outweighs anything else he can do on the football or baseball field," she said. "I hope that giving spirit continues in him and in my other kids. Because they are very blessed."

Now Cathy Parker -- who works a job in sales in addition to everything else she does -- has set her charitable sights on her newest home for the past six months. It didn't take her long to identify a need and apply her expertise at addressing it.

"When I moved here I'm wondering, 'Why am I here? What do I need here? What can I possibly do for them?' " she said.

It was at a baseball game in Richmond County where Parker spoke with a lone mother sitting in the bleachers.

The mother tearfully told her how her son wants to play baseball but his opportunities aren't plentiful.

"I told her we can get him trained," she said. "That's one thing we can do. My family has been blessed in athletics. There may be other families that have been blessed with musical talent. Whatever the gifting is, they can give back. There's plenty of needs."

Parker has met with Richmond County school superintendent Dr. Dana Bedden and discussed ways to help. She plans to start a camp next summer, raising the money and bringing in the athletes and coaches to teach kids who can't afford it.

"I have a saying -- you're gonna pay for it no matter what," she said. "Either now by selling into these kids who like to be involved in athletics and helping them get better and giving them the things they need to get off the streets and be active and stay in school. Or you're going to pay for it way more down the line."

Cathy Parker has seen how kids react to her husband and oldest son as athletes. Elementary school kids, particularly boys, all raise their hands when asked if they want to grow up to be pro athletes.

"We know that very few are going to play in college and so very few make it professionally," she said. "But they all should have a chance to get out there and put on a uniform and do something where they can feel good about themselves and be part of a team. It changes a kid, and we've seen it over and over again."

Parker's also seen how giving that opportunity changes a community and the way it responds. She's already been contacted by coaches around the area who offered to volunteer after seeing a segment about her on WJBF.

"I know every school system is short on money, but when you make that need known to the community ... you can get things like that done," she said. "That's one of the things I learned doing the project for Alaska. It was individuals all over the country like you and me that donated money or services. That's how we did it using thousands and thousands of people."

So while Clemson fans hope that Kyle Parker will make a difference in the Tigers' championship goals, his family is already doing that in a place where until six months ago they were just strangers.

Reach Scott Michaux at (706) 823-3219 or scott.michaux@augustachronicle.com.