the coaches’ choice. During the last 12 years, the golf event
itself has contributed a total of $7.6 million in scholarship
and charity.
Another educational beneficiary of Peach Bowl, Inc. is the
Bowl’s academic mentoring program in the Atlanta Public
School System. The program provides an ‘academic
coach’ to work with student-athletes in 11 inner-city high
schools. This academic coach serves as a mentor, advocate,
counselor, tutor, and friend who works to assist studentathletes
in maximizing their personal potential. With
$150,000 committed to Atlanta Public Schools each year,
Peach Bowl, Inc. is the only entity in the nation to fully fund
a program like this for an entire school district.
In 2017, Peach Bowl, Inc. joined forces with the Atlanta
Football Host Committee, Chick-fil-A Foundation and
College Football Playoff Foundation to create a partnership
with Atlanta Public Schools that resulted in the funding of
a three-year, $2 million initiative to improve early childhood
literacy among kindergarten through fifth grade students. By
2020, the literacy initiative will equip 1,500 APS teachers
with the skills to deliver high-quality literacy instruction to
all 25,000 APS elementary students.
Each year, Peach Bowl, Inc. also continues to support
the Georgia Lions Lighthouse Foundation. The original
sponsoring organization of the Peach Bowl receives $50,000
each year to make sure disadvantaged Georgians have
access to quality eye care including eye exams, eye glasses
and necessary eye surgeries.
Most recently, Peach Bowl, Inc. partnered with Children’s
Healthcare of Atlanta to launch its Touchdowns for
Children’s initiative where fans are able to make a pledge
to the patients at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta based
on how many touchdowns their team scores during the
2018 season. Peach Bowl, Inc. will then match every
dollar raised from the campaign this season. This year’s
Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Touchdowns for Children’s raised a
total of $606,218 for Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
Additionally, Peach Bowl, Inc. was the original recruiter
and founding sponsor that helped bring the Chick-fil-A
College Football Hall of Fame to Atlanta. The Bowl’s
proactive approach for this project began with a $5 million
donation that helped secure college football’s shrine and
open the state-of-the-art attraction in our home city. This
spring, Peach Bowl, Inc. renewed its sponsorship of the
Hall of Fame with an $8 million donation to bring its total
investment in the facility to $13 million, making it the single
largest beneficiary of the Bowl’s philanthropic efforts.
Peach Bowl, Inc. has benefitted many other charities with
one-time donations, including the Hokie Spirit Memorial
Fund, in response to the 2007 campus shooting at Virginia
Tech; the Louisiana State Hurricane Student Relief Fund to
assist LSU students who were displaced due to hurricanes
Katrina and Rita; Nick’s Kids to provide aid to those affected
by the 2011 Alabama tornadoes; the Red Cross Hurricane
Harvey Relief Fund for those in Texas impacted by the storm
in 2017 and most recently the American Red Cross to help
provide for the immediate and long-term needs of families
affected by hurricanes Florence and Michael.
Stokan is quick to point out that these successes are ways
that college football, particularly bowl organizations, can
benefit the communities that support them across the country.
“We have been so fortunate to have the support of our
community and our partners,” Stokan said. “We are
driven to do what we can to help and elevate those who
have supported us. The Atlanta community, our partner
conferences and schools, student-athletes in Georgia – they
are all part of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl family.”
As part of the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Week experience, teams visit with
patients at local children’s hospitals.
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