On Friday of Catholic Schools Week, founder of Halo of Hope Foundation and former NFL star Jared Tomich spoke to the Bishop Noll student body about 500.
Tomich attended Lake Central High School and walked on to play football at the University of Nebraska. Being the 39th draft pick by coach Mike Ditka, he signed with the New Orleans Saints in 1997 and played with them until 2000. In 2002, he played for the Green Bay Packers for one season. After a six season long football career, Tomich decided to give back to the community.
Tomich established the Halo of Hope Foundation after he left the NFL. The Halo of Hope Foundation is a children’s cancer foundation that originated from children cancer camps Tomich does throughout the year. The foundation pulls kids from eleven different hospitals nationwide and hosts retreats for them that last 4-5 days.
“The idea is to get kids out of the very adult situations they’re in…to be around other kids to help them kind of self-mentor one another and be in situations and get to know other kids going through the same thing that they are,” Tomich said.
Tomich volunteered at a “Circle of Friends” camp and fell in love with it. As soon as he got home, he created the Halo of Hope Foundation. For eight years now, the Halo of Hope Foundation has been supporting those camps and continues to raise money for them through various fundraisers and events. The camps are held seasonally.
“The winter time camps are located up in Wausau, Wisconsin. At the winter camps we stay at a large indoor waterpark and through every day we usually do two different events,”  Tomich said.
During the summer, Halo of Hope holds a reunion camp and invites those that have attended camps in the previous two years.
“Some years we’ll have it in Tampa, we’ve had it in Seattle, and we’ve had it in St. Louis,” Tomich said.
Some recent fundraisers and events that Halo of Hope has held has been their golf outing, Hackers-n-Halos, and their Halloween Ball. During NCAA’s March Madness, Halo of Hope will be teaming up with local BW3’s restaurants to raise money for the foundation. Those who dine at any BW3’s have the option to buy a bracket.
Noll dedicated their charity drives during Catholic Schools Week to contribute to the Halo of Hope foundation.