Today we’d like to introduce you to Jeff Wadstrom.
Jeff, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started the Bridge to the Future Foundation (www.b2future.org) in 2005 with the goal of using sports to address the felt needs facing our society in the underserved communities. I found that sports supersede race, religion, politics, economics, gender, etc… and that it is the perfect vehicle to create positive change in the lives of the people that impact our communities.
It started in 1998 when my family moved to Beirut Lebanon and I started working with 13 different countries in the Middle East in using sports to help unite and serve the people. We placed the first professional American basketball player in Syria, Iraq, and Iran, and we’re building bridges through sports to bring a message of peace and unity.
In 2000, we moved to San Diego and started working with helping underserved student-athletes with college preparation and athletic training that they wouldn’t be able to afford (SAT prep, mentoring, tutoring, sports specific fundamental development, etc…) We had our first donation of $26,000 and turned it into over $1.2 million dollars of college scholarship money for underserved athletes.
Our focus then became to help train athletes in how to train properly to prevent injury and stay healthy. In 2013, Mexico became #1 in the world for diabetes and obesity and their government asked me to come and bring awareness to this issue through sports (much like NFL play 60 in the US). In 2014, I brought a famous Mexican soccer named Claudio Suarez to Tijuana to do a soccer camp for the youth and bring awareness to the need for healthy eating, proper exercise, etc…
At that camp, a young man came up to me and asked me I would help him pull some of the young men from the streets in the most dangerous area of Tijuana and use soccer to get them off the streets and away from crime and violence. So, in Nov. of 2014, we started a soccer club that worked with the homeless and impoverished youth in a place called Terrazas del Valle in Tijuana.
The coach we started working with had played professional soccer in Guadalajara for 8 years, and he had a great heart for helping the youth. We started with one team in 2015 and placed 5 players from that team in professional contracts. From there we started 8 more teams for boys and girls age 10-18. Many of the players were homeless or in very rough situations. The club is free for anyone who wants to participate. We started getting the kids into school, off the streets and creating a positive impact on their community.
In order to have our club be able to exist, we had to meet with the heads of the warring cartels and drug dealers in the area to create a peace treaty so that the kids could play soccer without being pulled into dealing drugs or prostitution. Over the next few years, we helped reduce the crime and violence in that area, created community service projects, helped battle the human trafficking issue and started bringing free medical brigades, etc… to help meet the needs of the community.
In 2016, we are asked to create a similar peace project in the La Mesa prison in Tijuana due to the violence between the warring cartels within the prison. We met with 50 of the most dangerous prisoners in prison and did 40 of peace that saw them commit their lives to live 40 days of peace and promote peace within the prison. We also worked with a drug rehabilitation center to help some of the cartel leaders get off of drugs and stay clean and even get out the cartel life. We are still making an incredible impact in Mexico and are now working to roll this to other areas of Mexico to use sports to reduce crime and violence.
In Mexico, the felt need is to reduce crime and violence and battle diabetes and obesity, so we are using sports to address those issues. In the US, the current felt need in mental health and wellness; worry of Alzheimers and Dementia among the aging; Anxiety/Depression and ADHD among the youth; and concussion concern among sports. So, we are working in the US to help address these issues.
We have started a Protect the Brain campaign in the US to provide low-cost, EEG brain scans to help with measuring brain health in all of the different areas of concern for the communities. We have recently started doing brain scan baselines for the athletes at some of the underserved high schools in San Diego so that they can make sure that their brain is back to normal before returning to play. We are on the cutting edge of brain health in an affordable way for the communities and are excited about ways that we can help people of all ages, economics, etc….
In San Diego last week, we were on the KUSI news sports program every night about what we are doing for the football programs and using this also to unite the communities facing crime and violence. We are also striving to help address the mental health issues facing our high schools and youth in terms of anger, depression, and suicide.
Our foundation is small and has no full-time employees, but we are starting to see the word getting about what we are doing. We are excited about helping our society know that there are positive improvements in ways that we can help with the mental wellness in all areas of our society.
We are excited to see the positive results in both the US and Mexico in these upcoming months and years as we continue the work we are doing and get the word out to let others know.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It has definitely not bee smooth. The main struggles that we have faced is that we are working in areas that are dangerous and hopeless to try and bring them peace and change. People think that what we are doing in is good, but few are really willing to get involved. We are uniting communities and cultures that are at war with each other, having to find common ground and start building relationships that will work together for a common goal.
Financially, we are always struggling, since we try to keep a pure agenda and don’t want to take any donations that come with ‘strings attached.’ One of the biggest challenges we face to get people to believe that we can really bring peace into this world and find the good in all people; while inspiring them to overcome the challenges along the way.
In the mental wellness side of things, education is the biggest barrier. We are having to educate the medical professionals, parents, athletes, administration, etc… on the use of EEG brain scans to use in their yearly wellness checks.
Bridge to the Future Foundation – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Our company is dedicated to go into the areas of our society that are divided or underserved and bring hope, not just through words or principles, but with action. We specialize in uniting communities and organizations to come together to create change. We are known for honesty, empathy, courage, and faith in people.
I am most proud of the results we are seeing in bringing positive change and hope into communities with people who never thought it was possible.
I think what sets us apart from others is that we are not about getting credit for what we do. Our goal is to inspire others to change and create change and then give them credit.
We try to make peace and hope the message, and not us. I think that we also go to places where others are afraid or not willing to go.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
The proudest moment of my career has been seeing people we have helped, sacrifice personal needs to serve others. I have so many stories about this. It is great to see young men who had no hope, now giving there lives so others can have hope.
We have seen 15-year-old homeless boys in the streets of Tijuana get jobs and give all of the money from their job to a friend who’s brother needed life-saving surgery. We have seen families who have very little food, give what they do have to others who are in a worse situation.
We have seen cartel leaders give up their life of crime because they have seen the change in their community. We are seeing countries work together when their governments are saying we are enemies.
Pricing:
- People can sponsor baseline brain scans for any age at $120 per scan
Contact Info:
- Address: 7875 Highland Village Place Suite B102-385
San Diego, CA 92129 - Website: www.b2futue.org
- Phone: 858-229-8338
- Email: info@b2future.org
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/B2Ffoundation/
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
