Why are we Giants fans?

Why does a non-profit based in Central Kentucky share photos and posts about New York Giants football? What do hashtags #wandalerobinson and #nygiants have to do with our mission? Those are great questions.

The Wanda Joyce Robinson Foundation was founded in September 2018. The organization partners with schools, community agencies and other non-profits to provide resources and services to children and families. WJRF has the unique capacity to “fill in the gaps” that macro-level services unintentionally create. WJRF represents “family”, as in total community- felon, child/youth, law enforcement, correctional system, school, mental health, government, and business. Within this family, WJRF provides mentorship for both prisoner and child; support to parents and caregivers; and connection to community. We believe in a holistic approach to breaking the generational cycle of incarceration. This is achieved through the commitment and dedication of the foundation volunteers and board of directors. 

Co-founder, Dale Robinson, is a former prisoner, turned successful business owner, of GURU gym, located in Frankfort, Kentucky. Dale is a sought-after motivational speaker endorsed by school systems, churches, businesses and Kentucky’s correctional system. He is the father of two sons- Dalevon Robinson and Wan’Dale Robinson and one daughter, Eliza. The foundation is named after his late mother, Wanda Joyce Robinson.

Which brings us to the New York Giants. Wan’Dale Robinson is a football wide receiver for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He played college football at Nebraska before transferring to Kentucky, where he became our hometown hero.

The WJRF is here to break the cycle and Wan’Dale Robinson is living our vision in front of us. While all of our kids cannot be NFL players, Wan’Dale gives them a personal connection to living a dream. We want our kids to dream big and we want to support their journey to success, whatever success may look like for them. In a recent interview with Big Blue View, Robinson said “It {WJRF} helps kids who have parents that were or still are incarcerated. Really just showing kids similar to me and my older brother and my little sister that there’s a way that you can make it out and you don’t have to go down the same path as your parents and make the same mistakes, and just show that there’s other outlets of being able to do different things — if that’s sports, art, music, whatever it may be. Just showing kids that you can do whatever you want to do and feel like they’re wanted and feel accomplished.” Listen to the full interview here.

So we’re football fans. And you can probably see why. We are the proud family of Wan’Dale Robinson AND all of our other kids that don’t have trending hashtags. If you follow us on social media, you may see posts about kids, programming, events, board members and important statistics mixed with a little #nygiants and #wandalerobinson fan posts. Give us a follow and join the family.

_{Learn more about the foundation and our mission to support kids and youth impacted by incarceration at www.wjrfoundation.org.}