After a career in the NFL, many turn their eyes to driving an agenda in the business world or in the media. Instead, Roy Hall decided to use his passion and abilities to steer young people onto successful life paths. He will tell his story, and share how we can do the same, during the annual W. T. McCullough Lecture at our Celebration of Human Services on Friday, October 26.

The Foundation…now works with 11 Ohio school districts offering mentoring programs, counseling at correctional facilities, free back-to-school supplies, “wellness” kits for personal hygiene and a lot more.

Hall was a standout athlete in high school and a start on the football, basketball and track teams. He went on to play football at The Ohio State University and was part of the team that won the 2002 national championship at the Fiesta Bowl. Upon graduation from Ohio State in 2007, he was drafted by the Indianapolis Colts. His NFL career unfortunately was injury-plagued, and ended with the Detroit Lions practice squad in 2011.

In 2008, Hall and Antonio Smith, an NFL and Ohio State University football teammate, created the Driven Foundation to serve and build opportunities to help people. They started out with—of course—a football camp. Later that year, they did their first food drive and fed 300 families with 40,000 pounds of food. To date, the food outreach program has provided 850,000 pounds of food to more than 650,000 families in Central Ohio.

The foundation has since expanded and now works with 11 Ohio school districts offering mentoring programs, counseling at correctional facilities, free back-to-school supplies, “wellness” kits for personal hygiene and a lot more. Recently the foundation has focused a lot on bringing inner-city children together with police officers to help create positive conversations and build trust.

And Hall and Smith haven’t forget where they started. Hall was a 2002 graduate of Lyndhurst’s Brush High School, and he comes home regularly to meet with students to encourage them to make good choices, give back to their communities by volunteering and take positive steps toward their futures. The Driven Foundation also sponsors the Arc Elite Outreach program, which has a special focus on learning how to be a leader.

Hall will present the keynote address during the lunch program of Community Solutions’ 2018 Celebration of Human Services on Friday, October 26, at the Hilton Garden Inn and Conference Center—Downtown. Community Solutions has had the privilege of hosting many stellar guest speakers—each one a celebrity and expert in his or her own field. We look forward to hearing from Roy Hall and hope you will join us. You can reserve your seat online today. While you’re at it, check out the four free CEU eligible sessions that will be held that morning on nonpartisan human service-related issues that likely will be impacted by the general election in November.