GIBSONBURG -- Former NFL running back Rocky Bleier will be the keynote speaker July 13 at the fifth annual Parker's Purpose Dinner Auction.

Bleier helped the Pittsburgh Steelers win four Super Bowls in the 1970s during his 10-year career. He was a team captain at Notre Dame.

He then served in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, was wounded in action, and earned a Purple Heart.

Proceeds from the event will go to Parker's Purpose, which provides services to families of ill and disabled children that are in immediate financial need.

The foundation is named after a Fremont youngster named Parker Inks, who has multiple sclerosis. Parker was the ball boy for the Fremont St. Joseph football team under former coach Todd Drusback.

Drusback, who now coaches at Rossford, said it's the foundation's biggest fundraiser of the year. He said the group has raised nearly $63,000 and helped 100 families since 2008.

The dinner and auction will be held at Old Zim's Wagon Shed. Presale tickets are $50 and are available only to persons 21 and older.

For more information go to parkerspurpose.net.

First Published June 28, 2012, 6:23 a.m.