Fayetteville man encourages Cards over Clicks for local youth

Fayetteville resident, Dennis Loewer, is a proud US Navy veteran that has been collecting sports cards since he was six years old. He would ride his bike down to the Mom & Pop Store to buy packs of Baseball, Football, and Star Wars cards in the 1970s. When he was young, there was no greater joy than memorizing statistics of his favorite baseball team and enjoying the sometimes “plastic-like” stick of gum that was included with the cards. Dennis discovered that card collecting helped him as a child learn new words, numbers, and expand his vocabulary. In fact, trading cards with his neighborhood friends helped him grow as a person and create lifelong friendships. When he saw his grandsons more interested in Pokémon cards than computer games, he envisioned a new way of helping kids to unplug from their phone and/or other gaming devices and to dive into another outlet for learning that did not require electricity.

So when Loewer recently retired, he knew exactly what he wanted to do in retirement. He created “Cards Over Clicks” which is an educational 501c(3) that encourages children to take social media timeouts and develop learning skills through card collecting. Cards may vary from sports such as baseball, football, basketball, and soccer to Pokémon or even Star Wars! The types of cards we utilize are all donated from card collectors, dealers, businesses, and private donors who are perhaps outgrowing their hobby or just declutterring. Collecting cards provides students a fun outlet for developing social skills by trading cards and creating friendships. It is an opportunity for our community to invest in the lives of children for both learning purposes and developing necessary social skills for a well rounded childhood. Loewer says that “Cards Over Clicks” has truly become a passion project for him as it’s fun to spend countless hours creating the customized family friendly packets and also rewarding to see the smiles on kid’s faces when they receive them.

Loewer collaborated with a few local teachers to create an educational worksheet that is included with each pack of customized cards. Each worksheet meets the Georgia PreK-12th Grade requirements. Loewer states that the emphasis for this educational non-profit is to focus on students under the age of 18 years old. Therefore, customized card packets are distributed based on the following grade levels:

Preschool to 2nd Grade
3rd Grade to 5th Grade
6th Grade to 8th Grade
High School

Cards Over Clicks wants to partner with schools, teachers, local businesses and organizations to provide customized educational packets to students throughout Fayette County. These can be in school classrooms or at local community festivals and sporting events.

Cards Over Clicks wants to engage, inspire, and support students to keep learning even when outside of school. Connecting on a level with them that is not only fun but innovative enough to promote the necessary learning and social skills that will benefit their future. If you are a teacher and would like Cards Over Clicks to visit your school or would like more information, please visit www.CardsOverClicks.org.