The Dallas Cowboys Team Up with the Salvation Army to Make a Difference

By Rick Bedard

The Dallas Cowboys of the National Football League have been a success on the field since joining the league as an expansion team in 1960.

“America’s Team” has been just as successful off the field and is considered to be one of the most valuable sports teams in North America. To top it all off, the Cowboys are a fan favorite franchise in the State of Texas, the United States and well beyond. Luckily for the people of Dallas and area, and nationwide, the great success of the Cowboys organization hasn’t just been limited to the football field, it has flowed over into the community and country that it calls home. Owner of the NFL Dallas Cowboys for the past 18 years, Jerry Jones is at the heart of the organization and its success.

Together, he, his wife Gene and their family manage and operate the franchise. All three of the Jones children are part of the Cowboys organization and are actively involved with the day-to-day operation of the franchise. Thankfully for the people of Dallas and area, Jerry Jones and his family put equal emphasis on giving back to the community. To that end the resources, talents, and skills of the family, the Cowboy players and all members of the organization are utilized for community outreach. The Salvation Army is one organization that benefits greatly from the Cowboys generosity of giving.

The Dallas Cowboys franchise is involved with the Salvation Army both nationally and locally on a number of projects. For the past ten years, the Dallas Cowboys annual Thanksgiving Day halftime show has been dedicated to the kickoff of the Salvation Army’s Annual Kettle Drive. Since 1997, Cowboys’ football has created a new holiday tradition by producing the annual halftime show and inviting nationally renowned entertainers to perform.

To date, Reba McEntire, Randy Travis, Clint Black, Billy Gillman, Jessica Simpson, Creed, LeAnn Rimes, Toby Keith, Destiny’s Child, Sheryl Crow, and Carrie Underwood have kicked off the celebrations. As a result of the nationwide efforts of the Salvation Army and everyone over the past decade, the one- billionth dollar made its way into a kettle somewhere in the United States in 2006. On the local front, as has become tradition, a week prior to Thanksgiving Day Gene Jones along with Dallas Cowboys players and Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders help serve an early Thanksgiving Day meal at the Salvation Army Carr P. Collins Social Service Center.

The holiday meal is served to about 300 families who are receiving assistance at the center. As well, each Christmas, the entire Dallas Cowboys franchise becomes involved with the Salvation Army’s Corporate Angel Tree program. Individuals in the Cowboys organization from players to the office staff provide clothing and toys to underprivileged families by adopting “angels”. Additionally, in 1998, the Gene and Jerry Jones Family Center for Children was opened in association with the Salvation Army.

The center serves as a source for low-income families to access affordable childcare programs that meet the needs of intellectual development and quality care.Gene and Jerry Jones’ association with the Salvation Army doesn’t end there, as they are also members of the Salvation Army’s Dallas County Board and the National Advisory Board. All of the family’s hard work and efforts have not gone unrecognized.

The Jones family was presented with the Salvation Army’s Partner of the Year Award in 1997 and the Evangeline Booth Award, one of the Salvation Army’s highest national community service awards, in 1999. The importance and need for giving back to the community and making a difference is at the core of the Dallas Cowboys franchise and is, indeed, their mission. The impact the Jones family and the Dallas Cowboys have had on the Salvation Army in their community and nationwide is unmistakable. Countless have benefited from the time, effort and generosity of the Jones family, the Dallas Cowboys and the Salvation Army. Once again it demonstrates, in the words of Jerry Jones, that “the star on the helmet can move mountains”.

Rick Bedard loves the Dallas Cowboys and he welcome's all of you to his new store devoted to America's Team.

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