OLATHE, Kan. — The Kansas City Chiefs have a mission this weekend: beat the Pittsburgh Steelers in a playoff game.
One company in the metro has it’s own mission: taking Chiefs football to military families, no matter where they’re serving.
Missions of goodwill spring from Dave Hosier’s cluttered office in Olathe. Dave’s family operates TLJ Marketing, which provides novelty items to U.S. Military bases worldwide. Four years ago, the Hosiers began working with the Kansas City Chiefs Cheerleaders, taking groups of them to visit active-duty service members and their families.
“What we do is we go out and we listen to them and we try to bring a smile to their face and a little of the NFL to their military communities,” Hosier, the company’s CEO, told FOX 4 News on Thursday.
Sometimes, the trips remain stateside, like a visit to Andrews Air Force Base or the Pentagon. Other caravans take the cheerleaders overseas to England or Germany, where they’d perform in USO-styled variety shows or conduct free cheerleading clinics for kids. Hosier and his wife, Amy, point out the cheerleaders take time off from their daytime jobs to make these trips.
“They get more out of it than the soldiers get out of it,” Amy Hosier, TLJ’s president, said. “I think it helps them learn on what the military soldiers go through — their lives, their dedication to the country. ”
The Hosiers have organized five to seven trips per year since 2013, one of which included a 2015 visit to Lakenheath Air Force base in England, which coincided with the Chiefs’ football game against the Detroit Lions in London. Dave Hosier said fans of numerous NFL franchises came to greet the Kansas City contingent.
“They come in Chiefs gear and Dallas Cowboys gear and their favorite teams. They’re coming to meet someone from the NFL,” Dave Hosier said.
The Hosiers say their focus is on the entire military family, since often times a single parent is left to raise a family while a service member is sent overseas. Dave emphasizes these missions are built on respect, but often times, their new friends become Chiefs fans too.
Dave and Amy Hosier say none of it would be possible without the help of Stephanie Judah, the Chiefs Cheerleaders director, who frequently makes her cheerleaders available for goodwill missions.
“It’s just something we feel good about doing that. I can go to bed at night knowing we’re doing something good,” Dave Hosier said.
It’s something that gives them a chance to say thanks.
The Hosiers will be watching this Sunday as the Chiefs, along with their popular cheerleaders, meet the Steelers at Arrowhead Stadium. On Friday afternoon, the NFL announced Sunday’s gametime would be moved to 7:20pm, a safety precaution to allow for the threat of inclement winter weather.
