While winning the Staples/NFL Coach of the Year award surely meant a lot to Packers GM/Head Coach Mike Sherman, it meant even more to a Green Bay charity.
Tuesday, in conjunction with the award, Staples presented a $25,000 check in Sherman's name to Marion House, a licensed group home for pregnant and parenting teens and their children.
Monica Zindler, the administrator and founder of Marion House, thanked Sherman and Staples through tears, noting that such donations allow the program to keep running.
"I'm so honored that you would choose us," Zindler said to Sherman. "We're a small organization. It's kind of like, who are we that you would consider us worthy?"
Responded Sherman, whose wife Karen volunteers regularly at the center, "I couldn't think of anybody more worthy than the Marion House."
Since 1994, Marion House has been home to more than 100 teen mothers and their children, allowing the mothers to stay in school while also learning parenting skills.
Zindler said she dreamed of a day when a semi-independent apartment facility could be added to the property, allowing the teen mothers a transitional residence after their stay at Marion House.
Sherman directly addressed the Marion House residents at the check presentation.
"The girls that come here to raise their children, to take that responsibility, I'm proud of you," he said. "You do a great job. I take my hat off to you.
"It's hard, I know that. But you do a heck of a job and you get the support here that you need and we're all behind you."
Sherman also thanked Staples for the Coach of the Year donation, and for the Coach of the Week program, which has donated more than $500,000 in school supplies to schools nationwide over the past seven years.
Sherman won the Staples/NFL Coach of the Year award based on fan balloting at NFL.com, receiving 46.9 percent of the 178,730 votes.
