Andy Dalton passing it on to needy families.
Andy Dalton and his wife Jordan, background, pose for a photo with Carson Alexander at the Andy & Jordan Dalton Foundation date night.
A ballroom at the Hilton Cincinnati Netherland Plaza was redecorated and outfitted with nearly anything a kid could like to spend a few hours with – including Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton – as the Andy & Jordan Dalton Foundation (AJDF) hosted its second annual “Date Night” last week.
To help fund events like that, the Daltons will be hosting the inaugural Andy & Jordan Dalton Foundation Golf Scramble at Twin Oaks Golf and Plantation Club on Saturday and his annual Celebrity Waiter Night, which will be held June 6. The goal of the evening is to send the parents of seriously ill and physically challenged children on an all-expense-paid dinner at Orchids at Palm Court, while the Daltons and the AJDF volunteers coordinate an evening that includes MadCap Puppets, an obstacle course, photo booth, gaming stations, balloon artists and a Cheers to Art station.
The money raised through such events has allowed the Daltons to create “hubs” at children’s hospitals in Cincinnati and in Texas, areas that feature iPads, computers, televisions and game and theater systems.
In 2015, Andy and Jordan Dalton shifted the direction of the foundation with an initiative called the “Pass It On Fund.” It grants money to families to pay for necessary medical equipment for seriously ill or challenged children in need.
“People apply through the hospitals and we look at all the applications and we’ll be able to supply grants for these families for whatever they need; a lot of times financially,” Dalton said. “They talk about their situation, what they’re going through, and where we go from there is if we feel like this is a family we can help, whatever they’re asking for we’re able to help them with that. That’s the big part of what we’re trying to do. For these families there is the struggle financially. It is a huge burden on them. So if we can help alleviate some of that, that’s where we really want to go.”
The couple also hosted a fundraising night in early April at one of their favorite restaurants in Ft. Worth, Texas, called “Fiesta & Goal,” which featured a silent auction that raised tens of thousands of dollars to be placed toward the Pass it On Fund.
“That’s really where we’re pushing the foundation, trying to help as many families as we can,” Dalton said. “It’s exciting because we’re able to help. And the big thing is the more money that we raise, the more families that we’re going to be able to help.”