In 2008, East Bay local, Cal Berkeley grad and former New England Patriots safety Je'rod Cherry inadvertently found himself in a conversation that would change his life.

Cherry was at a religious youth conference with his wife (who was volunteering), when he took a light ribbing from a woman working at the conference named Courtney Cherest. Cherest — who was apparently not a Patriots fan — suggested Cherry put one of his three Super Bowl rings to good use by selling it and donating the cash.

As ESPN reports in a profile of Cherry's work, the football player-turned-radio show host opted then to make a substantial donation to a good cause (or as it turned out, a few good causes) by giving up one of his most prized possessions: the 14-karat white gold 2002 Super Bowl ring commemorating the Patriots' upset win over the St. Louis Rams.

Working with an organizer referred by the sister of Patriot's quarterback Tom Brady, Cherry got the ring appraised and found a raffle whose proceeds would benefit three causes: Boston for Africa, Feed My Starving Children, and Asia's Hope, a religious organization that creates a home for orphaned children in Thailand, India, and Cambodia, and provides children with necessary tools to build a future, like educational options, food, and medical care. These children, as Cherry found out, have historically been made victims of drug trades and sexual violence, among other things.

The raffle, which priced single tickets at just $2 each, raised $180,000.

Per ESPN, Cherry's donation directly funded the construction of a new orphanage for 24 children in Thailand:

These hill tribe children are trans-nationals who are afforded virtually no rights by the government and are often left with no hope of building substantial lives after their parents are killed while working in the drug trade. They are, effectively, refugees in their own land, some of them living near the Burmese border without electricity or basic utilities.

Tutu Bee, the Thailand country director for Asia's Hope (and a former hill tribe child herself) now lives with the orphans in the home built using Cherry's donation. When asked by ESPN what would have happened if such a donation never occurred, she said that the children would have become drug dealers or sought work in brothels, because they wouldn't have had another choice.

"But now they have a new life," she said. "They're not afraid. They can find a job in the city, and they can go back to their village and develop their own tribes."

With an invitation to visit by Bee, Cherry says he's making it a priority to visit this year to "celebrate, encourage, and hopefully bless these beautiful faces," adding that, "they appear very happy and content when you consider what they have faced in life."

The whole story is well worth a read. See it here at ESPN.