Former Owls to be Honored with Young Alumni Diamond Excellence Award

In 2014, four former student-athletes were sitting together in Chicago and began a discussion about how sports helped them get to where they were in their careers.

Steve Maneri and John Palumbo had been teammates who played together at Temple from 2008-09. Maneri joined the Owls in 2006 and went on to play for six teams in the National Football League during a six-year career. He now is an office leasing broker for Colliers International. Palumbo was an Owl from 2008-11, and was team captain and MVP and earned numerous all-conference honors before his playing career derailed by injury. He went on to become a rising star at DeCotiis, Fitzpatrick, Cole & Giblin, LLP, one of New Jersey's most prominent law firms.

Their other two friends, Charles Princiotto and Tony Moeaki, had played college basketball, and NFL and college football, respectively. Princiotto is now vice president of wealth management at Janney Montgomery Scott, LLC, in New York City. After seven successful seasons in the NFL, Moeaki is currently focused on his philanthropic efforts.

Together the four created the Kid's Dream Big Foundation (KDB), a 501(C)3 not-for-profit organization based in the greater New York City area. The mission of the organization is to create impactful experiences for the local youth communities, primarily through sports, that encourage them to set goals and pursue their dreams.

"We realized that because of what we were able to accomplish on the playing field," said Maneri, "kids look up to us and our impact can be powerful. A parent can say something 100 times that won't have the impact on a child that a successful athlete can achieve by saying it once. We decided then and there that we needed to use this platform to help inspire the next generation of kids. This is how Kids Dream Big was born. We kicked off in October that year and hit the ground running."

The Foundation's mission statement is to motivate and inspire children through impactful experiences with a focus on their futures and dreams. KDB does this through camps, community involvement, and ongoing development of outreach projects.

Palumbo added that even Walt Disney helped shape the group's vision. "As Walt Disney once said, 'all our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.' That is our credo. We want to inspire kids to truly believe that anything is possible, despite any adversity or obstacle in their way."

Sometimes the four founders of KDB are casually asked, "Why did you start this foundation?" Pretty simple question but one that warrants a detailed explanation (found on the foundation's website www.kidsdreambiginc.org, also Kids_Dream_Big on IG, and Kids Dream Big Foundation on FB).

The brainchild behind KDB came from the realization of how powerful dreams and goals are to the success of people. Some extremely respected, wealthy, and sophisticated people still attribute having audacious dreams as being the most important contributors to not only being successful, but also living a fulfilled life.

So there is enough information to conclude that dreams are essential to living a successful, happy, and fulfilled life. But it's not always that simple. Life gets in the way, rejection gets in the way, and sometimes circumstances out of your control get in the way and can discourage you entirely. Unfortunately, this is exactly what happens to a lot of kids way too early in the game! The ones who should be dreaming the most! This was the problem KDB sought to help fix.

KDB wanted to create a foundation that would create impactful experiences for kids to encourage them to dream, set goals, and to not give up on them no matter what circumstances they are facing. Positivity is contagious and is also the gateway to dreaming. If we could create even just a couple experiences a year that put smiles on kid's faces, makes them feel happy, and at the same time reminds them to never stop dreaming, we thought we could bring real value. That's what KDB is still doing today, 4 years later.

One example of the foundation's mission is its Annual KDB Holiday Shopping Extravaganza. This past December they took over 200 kids from Hoboken and Jersey City on a holiday shopping spree. To qualify, each kid filled out goal sheets, which included long-term and short-term goals, as well as a plan to execute each goal. The kids who accomplished their short-term goals were rewarded with the shopping extravaganza. It wasn't about the size of the goal, it was about holding the kids accountable for their actions.

"As time went on," added Maneri, "our focus has also shifted toward encouraging millennials to be more charitable and we've worked with dozens of our peers along the way."

"We're just four normal twenty-something year old guys who are trying to do the right thing," said Palumbo. "Just like our peers, we are extremely busy - we all have corporate jobs and are working long hours to make a name for ourselves. But, we always find time to give back to the kids. Our peers see that and they get inspired to do more in the community -- it becomes a snowball effect."

On March 7, 2018, Temple University's Young Alumni will recognize Maneri and Palumbo, and the Kids Dream Big Foundation, with its Diamond Excellence Award at the Annual Cherry and White Networking Night. The Award was established to honor outstanding achievements and/or service to the community of a Temple University alumnus or individual in a profession or field. The goal of this award is to provide a role model for all current and future Temple young alumni. Previous winners of the award include former Philadelphia mayor and Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell (2002), and NBC10's Tracey Davidson (2009), and John Clark (2005). For more information click here.

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Former Owls to be Honored with Young Alumni Diamond Excellence Award

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