On February 8, Super Bowl LX (2026) will be held at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara California, the home of the San Francisco 49ers. Along with the football hoopla that will be going on, St. Louis is a part of an annual tradition that takes place in conjunction with the Super Bowl each year: Super Baskets of Hope, sponsored by Basket of Hope, a St. Louis-based charity.
Readers of STL Sports Page were honored to help with the “Super Baskets of Hope” gift basket assembly that took place at the St. Charles Convention Center last month. Super Baskets of Hope has become a nationwide initiative — delivering care baskets and totes to hospitalized patients in celebration of the Big Game. NFL players are involved with the deliveries which will take place in 32 NFL cities.
In keeping with our STL Sports Page motto: “Any good we can do with this site, we’ll do it, any fun we can have, we will do that too”– we advertised the event in our newsletter and were happy that some of our readers joined us for the workday to assemble the baskets on Wednesday Jan. 7.
STL Sports Page put together a table at the event which was held at at the St. Charles Convention Center. There were so many volunteers the group worked in different areas; some were putting together the baskets for the children, some for parents and we even had one moving boxes to help in the effort.We had 20 people show up to help and everyone seemed to have a great time.
The photo, left shows Patti Dodel, Tim Mitchell, Janet Mitchell and Tom Millecker, who all gave up their day to help pack the bags and baskets.
Former NFL player Chris Draft, shown right was there. He gave a short motivational speech to the volunteers.
Draft knows about the importance of having hope. He lost his wife to lung cancer several months after they were married. They had started the Team Draft Foundation together. He continues to run the foundation which advocates for lung cancer research, early screening (especially for veterans), and healthy living, often with a focus on survivorship and hope –as well as they help Basket of Hope. At the event, Draft encouraged volunteers to never lose hope.
On the floor of the Convention Center, Basket of Hope had long tables and set the basket items on them so volunteers could make assembly lines. There were two different types of baskets: Adult (Parents) and Children.
Tara and Joe McMahon along with Mary and John Gall worked at the Parents table, and are shown in the photo, left with Basket of Hope founder, Angela Brunette standing on the left.
The parents baskets feature special “Hope” necklaces made by jBloom, a jewelry company based in St. Charles.
jBloom was founded by Jennifer Bonacorsi in 2013 and they make the necklaces which they sell and $10 from each Hope Necklace sold goes to support Basket of Hope.
Super Baskets of Hope brings Super Bowl spirit to hospitalized pediatric patients nationwide. The baskets are given out to children who are in the hospital. In St. Louis, they work with all of the pediatric hospitals.
Also included in the volunteer group with STL Sports Page were Mary and Pat Barrett, shown in the photo, left Everyone had fun working together and they were all treated to lunch.
Rob Rains was asked to speak to the crowd of workers. He spoke of how his niece’s family received a basket through Basket of Hope 25 years ago. The simple act of presenting the family with a basket was memorable and stuck with him.
He also talked about how years later his grandchildren received a basket sent in the mail when their mother was going through some health challenges. Mike Rains, who does the “Rains on the Cardinals” Podcast with him is shown in the photo with him, right.
We posted his speech on our YouTube Channel. CLICK HERE.
Rainbows for Kids is the official charity for STL Sports Page and Rainbows for Kids and Basket of Hope have partnered in various ways for at least 20 years.
Basket of Hope was started in 1995 by the Brunette Family of St. Louis after seven-year-old Christina Brunette completed her treatment for childhood cancer. Her mother, Angela is the National Executive Director. It’s a family affair as Angela and her husband ‘s other daughter Janelle Madi spoke to the crowed. She is shown in the photo left with her mother and sister Christina.
“What a full and fun day as we assembled 3,700 Super Basket of Hope gifts for families in St. Louis and in all 32 NFL city hospitals,” she posted on social media. “Thankful for these great people showing up to give hope.”
The 3,700. baskets was just the first day of the two-day event.
The charity was initially supported by Ram’s quarterback at the time, Kurt Warner which helped it really take off and and over the years through the hard work of Brunette and her crew, many NFL players and personnel have gotten involved, but Tony Dungy (who is shown in the photo below) has been a huge mainstay.
Since 2012, Baskets of HOPE has delivered comfort, encouragement, and hope to patients facing medical challenges, uniting professional athletes, partners, and volunteers in service.
Some of the sponsors of the event were:
- FedEx: Provided shipping to all 32 NFL cities for the nationwide delivery.
- Dungy Family Foundation: A major supporter, linked with former NFL coach Tony Dungy.
- Build-A-Bear: Contributed bears for the baskets.
- jBloom Designs: Created “Hope” necklaces for parents.
- S&K Printing & CG Moneta Consulting: Provided printing and consulting services.
- ADHC Underpayments
Super Baskets of Hope transforms the excitement of Super Bowl week into a nationwide act of compassion, reminding patients and families they are not alone during challenging times.
We think it’s a great charity and encourage you to find out more: BasketofHope.com
