Sean and Brian Colgan, graduates of La Salle College High School in Wyndmoor and founders of The Colgan Foundation, have been supporting Ukrainian rowing teams displaced by the ongoing conflict with equipment and resources to continue their training.

“When the war started, my brother’s friends in Ukraine reached out, and Sean immediately offered to help,” Brian Colgan said in an interview. “He funded their Olympic Team training and travel expenses and coordinated donations of used equipment for their youth rowing, which we shipped to Ukraine.” 

So far, The Colgan Foundation has sent three containers filled with boats, oars, and ergometers.

“We’ve sent two containers from New England and one from Los Angeles,” Brian Colgan said. “The Ukrainian teams have been incredibly appreciative, sending us pictures and videos of them using the new equipment.”

“Sean funded them for several years, covering their National Team training and travel expenses elsewhere in Europe,” Brian Colgan said. “We worked with various donors and shipping companies to collect and transport the equipment to their rowing club back in Ukraine. The first container arrived quickly, and the others followed, packed with everything from boats to ergometers.” 

In 1979, Sean Colgan won a gold medal at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara before becoming a member of the 1980 USA Olympic team.

The full story is here.

About The Colgan Foundation

Founded by Sean P. Colgan, the Colgan Foundation has supported athletes, students, scientists, mentors, Catholic clergy, war veterans, and others in need since 1995. The Foundation has grown to include other Colgan family members, and its philanthropic reach extends across the United States and beyond. From Philadelphia high schoolers, to children in El Salvador, to rowers in New Zealand, to active military in undisclosed international locations, the efforts of the Colgan Foundation make an impact around the world. 

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Photos: LSCHS