Down, set, hike!

The Super Bowl is coming … and there is a SUPER way for kids to get involved!  Join SLANT 45, and team up with other kids to become a CHAMPION of community service! 

Help make your community a better place to live by signing up for SLANT 45 – short for Service Learning Adventures in North Texas. SLANT 45 is a free youth education program developed for elementary-age children. Designed and managed by creative-learning nonprofit Big Thought, in partnership with the North Texas Super Bowl XLV Host Committee, SLANT 45 aims to become one of the biggest communitywide service-learning programs for children in America!

The goal of SLANT 45 is to recruit 20,000 kids from more than 100 North Texas cities to generate 45,000 hours of community service.

Here’s how it works. Adult coaches, equipped with Playbooks packed with tips and ideas, will help form teams of two or more kids. The teams will identify and research issues in their local community from their own perspective, then develop a project, which can run over a weekend or span several months. Once a team is registered, local Junior League volunteers will assist the coaches and teams throughout the process.

Projects are limited only by a child’s imagination – from blanket drives and community gardens, to murals painted over graffiti, to a neighborhood walking program.

A key component of the learning experience is developing a reflective collage (submissions due October 30, 2010 to be considered for a special touring art exhibition). Teammates meeting all guidelines are eligible to receive an official SLANT 45 T-shirt and have an opportunity to be part of a January 2011 celebration event at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington (free tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis).

“Here’s a great chance for us to recognize that the heroes of Super Bowl XLV aren’t just on the football field,” said former Dallas Cowboy Daryl Johnston, who serves as the SLANT 45 chairman. “They’re our littlest heroes, right here in North Texas, working to do good for others.”

President George W. Bush and Mrs. Laura Bush are honorary chairs of SLANT 45, and Bank of America and the Ted & Shannon Skokos Foundation are the founding sponsors. To learn more and register, visit slant45.org.