High school football players to raise money for Children's Hospital

The high school football season starts this week. The team and players have their sights on winning but a few select have an added incentive to play their best this season.

Every yard, every catch and every touchdown help teams win games.

“Growing up in a small community like Oakland, there’s not a lot of opportunities so you have to create your own,” Donnie Dodge told 6 News.

Donnie isn’t campaigning to get his son a college football scholarship. Instead, he’s trying to instill a life lesson. Garrison Dodge is in his senior year at Oakland-Craig.

“I wanted to give back to the community,” Garrison Dodge said.

For every touchdown Garrison will donate a buck and for every four catches the wide receiver will give another dollar.

“You pledge, you play, you pay,” Garrison explained.

“I am so proud, so proud of Garrison for doing this,” Donnie said.

Every dollar earned by Garrison and his football buddies will go to the Children’s Hospital and Medical Center in Omaha. For Garrison, that was an easy decision to make.

“We wanted to give back to the doctors and nurses that saved my life,” he said.

Garrison was born six weeks premature. So was his sister. She had to spend more than a month at Children’s.

“If you’re gonna do a charity you gotta be passionate about it. It saved his sister’s life, his life and his mom’s life,” said Donnie.

The name of the organization is Athletes 4 Children. To date, Garrison’s convinced 37 other athletes from eastern Nebraska to join his cause.

“Some we had to email or message directly on Twitter. They agreed it was a great idea and they hopped on board.”

Garrison’s goal is to raise at least $10,000 and donations are limited to athletes. If you’d like to pledge money or sponsor an athlete,