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Mike Gottfried, Team Focus
Having lost his father when he was just a child, Mike Gottfried knows firsthand how hard it can be to grow up without a dad, and he wanted to do something about it. In 2000 with the help of his wife Mickey, Mike organized the first Team Focus camp for 10- to 18-year-old boys whose fathers are not a part of their lives. Now Team Focus holds multiple camps across the country each summer to help boys develop leadership, academic and social skills and moral values.
The summer leadership camps are just one way Team Focus is reaching out to fatherless young men. Boys also benefit from having an adult male mentor in their lives year-round. Mentors provide friendship and guidance, show an interest in boys' lives and help them to set and achieve goals. Mike has been a mentor to dozens of boys over the last seven years, flying across the country to take young men to ball games and welcoming them into his own home. About Mike Gottfried and Team Focus, Mrs. Bush has said:
"Those are the kind of stories that inspire me; the stories of men like [Mike], who suffered a profound loss themselves, in their own lives, and then wanted to make a difference in the lives of other people."
Read Mrs. Bush's remarks at Team Focus' National Leadership Camp here.
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