speaking of the olympics

I woke up to news on NPR of US Speed Skater Joey Cheek who used his 15 minutes of fame after winning a gold medal at the Olympics to raise awareness about the problems in the Sudan. He's also donating the $25,000 he receives from the US Olympic Committee and is looking for his sponsors to match his donation.

As quoted in the Detroit Free Press:

"In the Darfur region of Sudan, there have been tens of thousands of people killed," Cheek said. "My government has labeled it a genocide. I will be donating it specifically to a program to help refugees in Chad, where there are over 60,000 children who have been displaced from their homes."

"I love what I do," Cheek said. "It's a great job. I've seen the entire world, and I've met amazing friends.

"But honestly, it's a pretty ridiculous thing. I mean, I skate around the ice in tights, all right? If you keep it in perspective, I've trained my whole life for this, but it's really not that big a deal. But because I've skated well, and because I now have 15 seconds of microphone time, I have the ability to raise some awareness and raise some money."

It's enough to make you want to chant "USA." Nice to see some humanity and concern for our global family. And on Valentine's Day no less!