Gregg Sternaman was a man whose life was built around his giving nature – a spirit that could not be contained in one lifetime.

And the first beneficiary of the foundation that is the extension of the giving spirit of this high school coach who died before his time, is Mooseheart Child City & School – specifically its football program, which is about to receive new helmets, shoulder pads and other equipment, all thanks to the Sterny Way Foundation.

Sternaman, who died of cancer in late 2009, coached football and baseball at Highland Park High School and also at Libertyville High School.

His devotion to those two communities, to those sports and his desire to help those in need became the cornerstones of the Sterny Way Foundation and ultimately to the award of $5,000 to Mooseheart, which was made on April 19 at Miller Park in Milwaukee, where Libertyville and Highland Park played in the inaugural “Sterny Classic” baseball game.

“You really get the sense of the passion Gregg lived life with,” Mooseheart Executive Director Scott Hart said in a recent news release. “He had a passion for athletics and for youth sports and for teaching his players how to be a part of a team and how to be a man, and how he really took young boys and helped make men out of them. This was the passion of his life.”

Through the equipment donation, one financial need at Mooseheart has been met – and Hart said the school’s football team will certainly be grateful for the helmets, shoulder pads, footballs and other equipment that will arrive soon thanks to the Sterny Way Foundation.

“[Gregg] would be so proud to know the Mooseheart school and its athletes are getting some new equipment,” said Donna Sternaman, Gregg’s widow. “He was always torn between his love for baseball and football. Football season would come and he’s say ‘I love football.’ Then it would get to be spring and he’d hear the crack of a bat and he’d come in and say, ‘I love baseball.’”

Given the speed with which it has operated since October 2009, the Sterny Way Foundation has yet to have a board meeting. Donna Sternaman said the nature of future awards and to whom those awards will go, is still yet to be determined.

But she said she wants to know more about Mooseheart and plans a visit this fall to the campus and to a football game.

“I want to get down and tour the facility and to meet some of those young men,” she said.

And in doing that, Donna Sternaman will help further the legacy of her husband and the foundation that continues to breathe life into the lives of young athletes.

Mooseheart Child City & School is a 1,000-acre community and school for children and teens in need of a secure home, located just south of Batavia between Illinois Route 31 and Randall Road.

Founded in 1913, Mooseheart is supported completely through private donations – the great majority of which come from the 1.1 million men and women of the Moose fraternal organization, in roughly 1,800 Lodges and 1,600 Chapters located throughout the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Bermuda. Moose International headquarters is located on the Mooseheart campus.

Since its founding, Mooseheart has operated a complete, accredited kindergarten-through-high-school academic program, plus art, music, vocational training and interscholastic sports.