U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Allstate and the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) select 22 student-athletes and one honorary coach for the 2019 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. Narrowed from a list of 137 nominees by an esteemed panel of judges, including Kirk Herbstreit (ESPN) and Tim Tebow (Florida, 2009 team), these players stood out for their leadership in local communities and overall commitment to giving back. Sanders is the first Air Force player to earn the honor.
"Because being a student-athlete is about more than their performance on the field, we're honored to share the stories of these deserving young men who embody the 'good' in college athletics," said John O'Donnell, president of Allstate's Western Territory. "At Allstate, we are inspired by their positive impact and we unite in this passion to serve local communities."
The team acts of service range from the founding of an organization that serves the homeless, to raising research funds for the rare disease community. Nearly all are involved in local youth mentorship initiatives, and the team has collectively volunteered thousands of hours to better the lives of those in their communities.
Sanders has been active in the football team as a motivational leaders while starting games each of the last two seasons. He serves as the team's community service representative, and has helped coordinate and participate in a service event where team members fix up a playground for a local childcare organization. He has also served as the cadet-in-charge of our Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) group, which has reached up to approximately 50-60 cadets in attendance and meets weekly, by helping plan events and run weekly meetings.
Sanders is also the vice president of Undivided, a non-profit that focuses on strengthening communities and on helping community members create positive change in their spheres of influence. He has gone out in the community, whether at local high schools' FCA events, retreats, or the Academy's SPIRE groups, and performed personal spoken word pieces and/or presented biblically-related messages for an estimated 1,000-plus people within the past two years. He was also the keynote/featured speaker at a retreat for high schoolers looking to go deeper in their faith.