by Bailey White
Staff Writer
The Tom Coughlin Jay Fund Foundation has launched its first fundraising calender.
Sales of the 2003 calender, “When I grow up...” will benefit children afflicted with leukemia or other childhood cancers and their families as they struggle to provide for treatment.
“We pay for all kinds of things so that they won’t have to focus on bills, but on what’s really important which is their child,” said Keli Coughlin, daughter of Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Tom Coughlin and director of the Jay Fund Foundation. “It could be a mortgage payment or other monthly expenses if one parent can’t work.”
The foundation also pays directly for treatment, including cord blood transplants, which are typically done as a last option and are not covered by insurance.
“We pay for three to five of those a year,” said Coughlin.
Coughlin teamed with Susan Michal, a local photographer who specializes in children’s portraits, to work on the calender.
“She put a lot of legwork into it and was able to get people involved,” said Coughlin of Michal’s involvement.
Michal’s work has been published in national calenders and has been used for greeting cards and posters. She saw the project as a way to get more involved in the community.
“I have a friend in another state who had done a project that was similar and I approached the Foundation with the idea,” said Michal.
The calender features local children, photographed with the theme, “When I grow up...” in mind. Michal issued an all-call to Jacksonville children, who came to her studio carrying props and ideas of their future careers. Some of the children in the calender are oncology patients at Nemours Children’s Hospital.
“We were going to pick the best pictures for the calender, but they were so great we wanted to use them all,” said Coughlin, who balances her duties at the Jay Fund with her full-time job as an athletic trainer at UNF.
“I work with great people who are very supportive of my other responsibilities,” she said of handling both jobs.
Coughlin became involved in the foundation when she moved to Jacksonville a few years ago. When her father started the organization in honor of Jay McGillis, a former player of his at Boston College, an annual golf tournament was the biggest source of funds.
“I originally got involved in the golf tournament, and as I got involved in more aspects of the foundation, I evolved into the director, which means I’m running day-to-day operations,” said Coughlin.
The hope is that the calenders, like the golf tournament, will be a large portion of the foundation’s annual income.
“If all 5,000 calenders are sold, the Jay Fund will have made $50,000,” said Michal.
Coughlin and Michal are pleased with the way the calender has turned out and are already planning one for next year.
“I think it’s precious. Keli and I have committed to doing another one,” said Michal. “We’re putting the word out now for interested children and we’ll be taking pictures in January and February.”
The calender costs $12 and is being sold at Applebee’s and Bono’s restaurants, Football Fanatic stores in the Regency Square and Avenues malls and at Alltel Stadium on game days.