Tim Tebow tells News how he plans to help Aurora families - New York Daily News

Robert Sabo/New York Daily News

Former Denver QB Tim Tebow, who signs a football for a fan on Saturday during Jets training camp at SUNY Cortland, reveals he will help out families of the shooting victims in Aurora, Colo.

CORTLAND â€" Tim Tebow lived just five minutes from the movie theatre in Aurora, the scene of the massive shooting in Colorado that occurred a little more than one week ago, and feels a strong connection to the broken-hearted people of Denver after playing the first two years of his career with the Broncos.

“It was shocking,” Tebow told the Daily News on Saturday. “Kind of surreal.”
Tebow was the Broncos’ most popular player when he was traded to the Jets in March after Denver signed Peyton Manning. He still has a lot of friends in the Mile High City and wants to help the families of the victims. He has been in contact with people in Colorado to get something started. The Denver community embraced him, and he is eager to give back.
“Whatever we can do for a family,” Tebow said. “Try to find certain families, try to bring them to a game. They are probably Broncos fans. So try to get them involved in a Broncos game. We have great connections with people there. Figuring out how to do something to brighten someone’s day or put a smile on their face. That is what my foundation is all about, and we want to help people in their darkest hour of need. That is part of my mission statement. This is really a dark hour of their life. So if we could put a smile on someone’s face going through this, either let them forget or let them think about something else, you are doing something pretty cool.”
Tebow is sitting in the front seat of a car Saturday taking him from the Jets locker room at training camp across the campus of SUNY-Cortland to the dining hall. During the ride, he’s talking about how the shootings hit so close to home. He has just finished the morning practice conducted mostly in a monsoon, his passes fluttering, some fans giving him a hard time.
That is all about football.
Tebow is about a lot more than football. It takes more than a football player to be as popular as he is. In many ways, he transcends football. He had a house near the town of Cherry Hills in suburban Denver, about two exits on the highway from Aurora. Tebow was never in the movie theater complex where “The Dark Knight Rises” was showing, but knows exactly where it is and had been to restaurants in the area.
Tebow was in Los Angeles at the time of the shootings. He has friends who knew people who were in the theater that night. His brother Peter, who lived with him in Denver, knew three people in the theater. “None of them were harmed,” Tebow said.
“It was just a surreal moment for them to see the blood and the people and everything involved. It was just unreal. I can’t even imagine it. My thoughts and prayers went out to the families and the victims, but also to the people that weren’t harmed, but just had to see it and had to be affected by it. People in other theaters hearing the screams, hearing the yells, that can be pretty tragic, too.”
He was in Los Angeles when he was traded and has been back to Denver just once to pick up his belongings. But he spent two years in Denver and developed close relationships. Now Tebow wants to help. That should not surprise anybody. He seems like a genuinely good person.
Panthers wide receiver Steve Smith is donating $100,000 to the families of victims to help with the medical costs. He has no connection to the area or any of the 12 people who were murdered or the 58 people who were injured. “Hopefully this helps a little bit,” Smith said. “From one NFL city to another, God bless.”
Manning, Denver’s new QB, called the hospital and spoke to four of the victims. Six Broncos players and former Broncos safety Brian Dawkins visited the Medical Center of Aurora. Athletes often don’t realize how much just showing they care can mean in people’s lives.
“It’s hard to imagine and fathom that you can actually have an impact in someone’s life,” Tebow said. “You just think that all I do is play a game, I’m not that important. But it can really have an effect, and when you see that, it’s surreal and humbling. Giving them hope or just letting someone smile, just putting a smile on their face, brightens their day a little bit. That’s more important than throwing any touchdown pass or winning any game, in my opinion.”
Tebow says that even though he’s not playing and living in Denver anymore, it’s still a part of his life. He has friends on the team, friends in the community. “I will always have a lot of great memories and moments there. That is not something that will ever change,” he said. “We all move on and go in separate directions, but we can still go back and have the great memories. I will always remember Denver being a place of great passion and support. You know in life you are going to have ends in certain parts and beginnings. That was one end for me and this is a new beginning. That is exciting, but at the same time I will always remember how cool it was there.”

He remembers the good times but wants to help the healing in the bad times. Tebow may not be a classic NFL quarterback, but his heart is in the right place.