Feel Good Friday: Kelley L. Carter and Tom VanHaaren
We can all use some feel-goods these days; Front Row will bring you all the feels, every Friday, through the goodness of familiar ESPN faces
Front Row is expanding on “FGF” goodness every Friday as we put our own spin on the segment by highlighting the “good” being done by familiar faces from around ESPN who are helping to make others – and themselves! – feel good. This ongoing series showcases even more ways that ESPN is #OneTeam, signifying how we are all in this together.
One of the regular Friday highlights now ingrained in the noon ET SportsCenter is a segment called “Feel Good Friday.” It’s self-explanatory.
Today the co-anchors are Nicole Briscoe and Randy Scott. The Feel Good Friday feature is slated to focus on former Major League Baseball All-Star outfielder Michael Bourn, who is making a difference as a landlord in Houston during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This week on Front Row, we hear from Kelley L. Carter and Tom VanHaaren.
Detroit: please let me know which students need breakfast and lunch. Or if there’s a good organization making sure those kids are getting fed in these next few weeks. Happy to help.
— KelleyLCarter (@KelleyLCarter) March 13, 2020
When Detroit schools were shut down due to COVID-19, The Undefeated’s LA-based senior entertainment writer Carter, a Detroit native, donated personal funds and asked others via social media to join her in feeding out-of-school students who receive “free and reduced meals” in Detroit (see above). She explains her motivation below.
The VHNews is back with broadcast No. 3.
Jack gets outside, has some breaking news and the kids breakdown highlights of other kids playing sports! pic.twitter.com/j0p1G260OD
— Tom VanHaaren (@TomVH) April 20, 2020
ESPN writer Tom VanHaaren was filming a video for ESPN.com when his kids (Tommy, 8; Emma, 7; Jack, 3) asked if they could shoot a video as well. Together, they came up with a productive and positive way for the kids to make videos, creating VHNews.
“The kids have been inquisitive about how other people, especially other children, are reacting to this pandemic,” VanHaaren said. “We thought [the videos] would help spread some joy.”
Since their debut newscast, VHNews has shared the news of the week on Twitter, including Jack’s signature sports report, with thousands of viewers. The trio of budding journalists even recently caught the eye of actor/director John Krasinski’s SomeGoodNews platform.
“We’ll continue to create the VHNews newscasts as long as Tommy, Emma and Jack are having fun and spreading joy.”
– Amanda Brooks
