(ThyBlackMan.com) Partners with Boys & Girls Clubs and Basketball Superstar Kevin Garnett to
Show Mentoring can be as Easy as Playing a Game of Basketball.
Minneapolis, MN (April 6, 2011) – Wheaties FUEL®, the first-ever cereal designed specifically to help fuel wins, today launches its “FUEL a Future” campaign to empower parents and other mentors to help develop the next generation of champions through sports.
Starting April 6, any adult can pledge to play one game of basketball with a child in their family or community at http://FuelaFuture.com. Wheaties 
FUEL will donate $1 per pledge to Boys & Girls Clubs of America. Wheaties FUEL guarantees a $50,000 donation to Boys & Girls Clubs and will donate up to $40,000 more based on pledges.*
To celebrate the launch of the “FUEL a Future” campaign, Wheaties FUEL is hosting a special mentor event today at the James Jordan Boys & Girls Club in Chicago. Twenty-six Chicagoland teens and their mentors have been invited to participate in an exclusive basketball clinic and private discussion with a special guest “coach.”
Wheaties FUEL is teaming up with basketball superstar Kevin Garnett to encourage youth mentorship. His coach, William “Wolf” Nelson, at Farragut Career Academy in Chicago was (and continues to be) one influential mentor in Garnett’s life.
“I had a lot of potential and a talent for basketball, but the guidance of mentors in key stages of my life helped me realize my dream and get where I am today,” said Garnett.
Sports play and competition, for which Wheaties FUEL was created, is also a key ingredient to successful mentoring, according to a recent national survey of American adults.** More than half (54%) of respondents feel mentoring can be difficult, but that sports provide a simple platform to help teach the next generation. In fact, 85 percent of Americans believe sports play a critical role in teaching life lessons such as perseverance, personal responsibility, teamwork and commitment.
“The Wheaties brand has long been associated with what it takes to become a champion, and the Wheaties FUEL “FUEL a Future” campaign is extending that association by supporting and sustaining new champions through influential mentor relationships,” said Betsy Frost, marketing manager for Wheaties.
The funds raised through “FUEL a Future” pledges will help support mentoring through Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s Great Futures Start Here campaign, providing programs and services to keep kids on the path to graduation through education, fitness and service.
“To have such an iconic brand as Wheaties support our work means a lot in helping the kids really understand the importance of what we’re doing,” said Michele Wysoglad, vice president of Resource Development for Boys & Girls Clubs of America. “We hope to see pledges from all across the country. Most important, we hope folks really do take the initiative to get involved with a young person through mentoring. We see the impact mentors have every day, and their importance can’t be understated.”
Despite showing strong opinions on the importance of mentoring, more than half (52%) of American adults grew up without the guidance of a mentor. Through the “FUEL a Future” campaign, Wheaties FUEL hopes to change this statistic, one pledge at a time.
*Wheaties FUEL has committed to a minimum donation of $50,000 and another $40,000 can be raised if the goal of 40,000 pledges is met.
** About the survey: The 2010 Wheaties Fuel Survey presents the findings of an online survey conducted Nov. 12-18, 2010 by Market Tools among a sample of 703 US adults comprising 503 African American cereal eaters and 200 general population cereal eaters 18 years of age and older. The margin of error associated with a sample of this size is ± 4.3%.
