Carrie Underwood Presents First Grant of $100,000 to Girls Sports Teams in Her Hometown of Checotah, Oklahoma
PITTSBURGH, 2016-Jun-15 — /EPR Retail News/ — Today (JUNE 14, 2016), The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation and CALIA by Carrie Underwood, a fitness and lifestyle brand created in partnership with DICK’S Sporting Goods (NYSE: DKS) and GRAMMY® Award winner Carrie Underwood, announced plans to donate $500,000 in Sports Matter grants to girls youth sports teams across the country.
Since 2014, The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation has pledged over $50 million to support teams and raise awareness of the importance of youth sports across the country through its Sports Matterinitiative.
To kick off the partnership in her hometown of Checotah, Oklahoma, The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation and Underwood herself surprised unsuspecting Checotah Middle School and High School female student-athletes during a summer practice to present a Sports Matter grant of $100,000 to the Checotah School District Girls Athletic Programs.
“I am so honored to partner with The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation to give back to my high school’s girls sports teams,” said Underwood. “Being active in youth sports while growing up helped set the foundation and passion for making fitness an important part of my life today. Participating in sports also taught me important life lessons about dedication and teamwork. Through this donation, we want to make sure there are plenty of opportunities for girls to play sports in Checotah for years to come.”
DICK’S Foundation will be partnering with Underwood’s local C.A.T.S (Checotah, Animal, Town, and School) Foundation and Brian Terry, Checotah High School Principal and Athletic Director, to allocate the Sports Matter grant to the girls softball, track and field, basketball, cheerleading and golf teams.
“At DICK’S, we believe sports make people better, and through this partnership, we hope to provide more opportunities for girls to play sports nationwide,” said Lauren Hobart, Executive Vice President & Chief Marketing Officer, DICK’S Sporting Goods and President of The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation. “Carrie Underwood knows firsthand the impact sports can have on girls becoming strong, successful woman. The DICK’S Foundation and the CALIA by Carrie Underwood brand are excited to ensure that opportunities for girls to participate in sports continue to exist.”
For more information on Sports Matter and CALIA by Carrie Underwood, please visit SportsMatter.org and CaliaStudio.com, respectively.
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About The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation
The DICK’S Sporting Goods Foundation is an exempt 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation with a mission to inspire and enable sports participation. It was created by DICK’S Sporting Goods, Inc. as a private corporate foundation to support DICK’S charitable and philanthropic activities.
Contact DICK’S Sporting Goods: press@dcsg.com
About Carrie Underwood
Carrie Underwood emerged from the promise of her 2005 American Idol win to become a true multi-format, multi-media superstar, spanning achievements in music, television, and film. A seven-time GRAMMY® Award winner, she has amassed over 100 major honors, sold 58 million records worldwide, and recorded 23 #1 singles, 13 of which she co-wrote, with a catalog of songs that have been streamed more than 1.5 billion times worldwide. The first female artist to be twice named the Academy of Country Music’s Entertainer of the Year, Underwood was recognized as Pollstar’s top female country touring artist for her headlining tours in 2008, 2010, and 2012. Her first four studio albums, Some Hearts, Carnival Ride, Play On, and Blown Away – each certified multi-Platinum or Platinum, and each an American Music Awards winner as Country Album of the Year – tallied an incredible 38 weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. In 2013, Underwood starred as Maria von Trapp in NBC’s three-hour holiday blockbuster, the Emmy®-winning The Sound of Music Live!, whose airings attracted 44 million viewers. In December of 2014, the Grand Ole Opry member released her first hits collection, Greatest Hits: Decade #1. Billboard’s best-selling hits album of 2015, the chart-topping package was certified Platinum in January of 2016, making Underwood the only country artist – and one of only six all-genre artists – to launch an album to Platinum success since the time of its release in December of 2014. Celebrating her first 10 years of music, the collection’s 25 songs included two new #1 hits co-written by Underwood: the Platinum-certified, GRAMMY-winning “Something in the Water,” as well as the Gold-certified “Little Toy Guns.” In 2015, she completed her third season as the voice of primetime television’s #1 program, Sunday Night Football, and will return in 2016 for a ninth consecutive year as co-host of the CMA Awards. Underwood’s current single, “Church Bells” is quickly climbing the charts, following the #1 success of “Smoke Break” and “Heartbeat,” all from her chart-topping, Gold-certified fifth studio album,Storyteller.
About C.A.T.S. Foundation
Established in 2009, the C.A.T.S. Foundation (Checotah, Animal, Town, and School Foundation) helps to improve Checotah, Oklahoma by assisting with causes, fulfilling needs, and providing services to directly impact the community and surrounding area.