Though it is about 15 months away, Super Bowl XLV, taking place in the Dallas Cowboys’ wondrous new facility, is already doing things “Texas Big” by announcing a volunteer campaign that may serve as a model for other high-profile events.

You can find two articles that cover the event from Jeff Mosier at the Dallas Morning News and Traci Shurley at the Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, respectively at http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/cowboysstadium/stories/DN-superbowl_22met.ART.State.Edition2.4be629f.html and http://www.star-telegram.com/local/story/1626978.html, with excerpts below.

(Excerpts)

Young North Texans urged to get out, help ahead of Super Bowl XLV

By Jeff Mosier, jmosier@dallasnews.com

ARLNGTON – Local Super Bowl organizers announced Monday the creation of a program to encourage children to perform at least 45,000 hours of community service in more than 100 cities.

The name of the effort – SLANT 45 – was taken from one of the Dallas Cowboys’ signature running plays during the 1990s. Super Bowl XLV – the first in North Texas – will be at the new Cowboys Stadium, the site of Monday’s announcement…

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SLANT 45 stands for Service Learning Adventures in North Texas and will start in early 2010. About 20,000 students in third through fifth grade are expected to participate. Information can be found at www.slant45.org or by calling 214-520-0023.

The program will encourage children to find service projects, submit details to SLANT 45 and create art representing lessons learned during their projects. Some of the artistic endeavors and work will be filmed for a feature-length movie to be screened in North Texas during the week of the Super Bowl in February 2011. The program was designed by Dallas-based Big Thought.

George W. and Laura Bush kick off service initiative at Cowboys Stadium

Traci Shurley, tshurley@star-telegram.com

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Former Dallas Cowboy Daryl Johnston is the chairman of the SLANT 45 organizing committee, funded with donations of $500,000 from Bank of America and $500,000 from Dallas philanthropists Ted and Shannon Skokos.

Big Thought, a Dallas nonprofit group that seeks to “improve public education through creative learning,” will implement the program, helping children work on projects that they envision and execute. Organizers want to focus on third- through sixth-graders.