Most mornings when 29-year-old Jack Brewer gets up for work, he listens to the “Yes, We Can” speech. “As a young black man,” he says, “It gives me inspiration to go work on Wall Street.”

Like Barack, the retired NFL player has his own unlikely story. As the first in his family to attend college, he earned a masters degree at 22 before getting signed to the Minnesota Vikings.  Jack stayed with the Vikings for two seasons, then moved on to the New York Giants and Philadelphia Eagles.  Now he works at Merrill Lynch in New York in wealth management, while taking classes at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs.

"I have always loved politics and always hoped and dreamed of someone like Barack – someone with a similar background to me."

Jack donated office furniture, supplies and computers for the Minnesota Headquarters and now is organizing his network of current and former NFL players on My.BarackObama.com.

About two months ago, I started to make a lot of calls to NFL contacts to start the group. The feedback was incredible. I sent out 100 text messages and got back 60 from the guys. After that, I said this is something that I have to do. I began to organize a few people from each team to serve as representatives and talk about the group in the locker room to the other players… Hopefully we can do our part for this campaign.

Jack notes that he’s still building the infrastructure for the group and planning to kick the group into full action after NFL training camps end. He already has found representatives for 10 teams and is still searching for more. The group members will leverage their networks of contacts for fundraisers and other events to publicize Barack’s message of change.

Barack has taught people to believe again in our potential to change our lives, our country and the world, Jack says. Barack’s message of collective responsibility came at a time when Jack was searching for purpose in his life. He started his own foundation in 2006 to provide mentorship and scholarships for underprivileged students. Yet he felt like he was just one person.

Now he knows that we can solve our own problems when we work together.

Take Jack’s lead and work toward change. Get more involved in My.BarackObama groups — invite your friends and family to join too. We can only do this if we each do our part to grow this movement!