They drive more than 1, miles every month to meet with football coaches and trainers at conferences around the country. Their goal is to raise awareness about their work and encourage coaches to teach proper hitting technique, which reduces the chances of head and spinal cord injuries. Gridiron Heroes is a father-son partnership -- a labor of love for Chris and Eddie, neither of whom receive compensation for their efforts.
While Chris is deeply committed to their mission, he's quick to acknowledge that Eddie does the lion's share of the work. The elder Canales gets it done from his easy chair in the living room, via his cell phone and laptop. It's a location that not only allows him to be within earshot of Chris, who still depends on him for care, but makes it easy for him to keep up with the latest scores on his big-screen TV.
The rest of the Gridiron Heroes share Canales' passion for sports, so get-togethers often involve a game of some kind. The activity of choice? Going to a football game. His son agrees. Web extra: Crippling injuries don't dim players' love of football. Eddie stresses that he isn't trying to deter anyone from playing football. In fact, the father and son believe that the discipline and can-do attitude instilled in Chris by his coaches helped him to recover and even regain some movement in his arms.
We want to make sure these kids are not forgotten. Word about Gridiron Heroes has spread around the country in the last couple of years, and more than 40 families from outside Texas have reached out to Eddie. Someday, he hopes to set up a national network, with branches to help the injured players in each state. He also wants to establish a fund in Texas to support high school players who suffer severe injuries.
Until then, he will continue his personal crusade to support these athletes and their families. Helping these young men -- whom he calls his heroes -- has become his life's work.
They've never given up," he says. Sent as an organizer by Cesar Chavez, he witnessed first hand both the U. Since then, his organizing focus has been on the lowest paid workers in the South, including farm workers, hospitality, health care, and immigrant workers. In retirement she continues to be active NNIRR in resisting the racist, regressive and anti-immigrant policies raining down from the Trump Administration.
Garcia has been at the forefront of immigrant and refugee rights since As a lead speaker on behalf of Derechos Humanos, Ms. Garcia holds press conferences and interviews, hosts media crews, leads demonstrations, weekly vigils, symposiums and marches to draw attention to the unjust policies and inhumane treatment of immigrants.
She works to counter anti-immigrant hysteria and to change stereotypes and misinformation about immigrants. According to Ms. It has not prevented people from attempting to cross the border but has put the lives of thousands of men, women and children in serious danger. Their deaths are the direct result of U. She was also the lead staff person on the Threads Leadership and Organizing School from to He is also a co-founder of the Priority Africa Network PAN , a Bay Area organization that advocates for progressive policies toward Africa and organizes dialogues between African Americans and black immigrants.
Gerald has provided leadership for progressive causes for 40 years within the immigrant rights movement, the anti-apartheid movement, the anti-racist movement, peace and solidarity movements, and electoral campaigns. A native San Diegan, Pedro has worked on immigrant rights and border issues for over 25 years. Pedro oversees a program that documents abuses by law enforcement agencies, collaborates with community groups, advocates for policy change, and works with migrant communities. There, he helped form INS Watch, which organized with migrant communities against immigration raids in the greater Bay Area.
Join Donate Menu. Immigration Issues and Resources. Seeking Border Justice. Get Involved. Take Action! Eddie was born in Mexico before his family settled in Pasadena, Texas.
Eddie says that growing up he always wanted to serve others in his career but wasn't sure what that might look like. As a first-generation college student, college initially was not on his radar, nor did he consider it to be an option.
In high school, a teacher took note of Eddie's skills and desire to succeed and helped him through the college application process. Many hours and SAT tests later, Eddie's hard work paid off. Eddie recalls he had great interest in studying the aspects of humanity. Through the Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Eddie says that he gained insight and understanding into the workings of relationships, which in turn fully prepared him for his career today.
As a student in Human Development and Family Studies, Eddie says that he knew he wanted to work with people. He quickly realized that he was in the right place with HDFS. The longer that I was in this major and took these classes, the more I learned about human development," Eddie said.
At the end of the day I wanted to serve people, and now that's what I get to do.
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