The Seahawks Players Equality & Justice For All Action Fund announced a second round of grants awarded to eight organizations “in an effort to create lasting change and build a more compassionate and inclusive society.” The award totaled $225,000 comprised of donations from fans, players and Seahawks staff. For offensive tackle Duane Brown, the donation “really shows that guys aren’t just talking about [making a difference], everyone is putting things into action, putting money behind it. As players in our position, we’re obligated, I feel like, to help the community. Everyone is pretty passionate about it in these different areas—homelessness, criminal justice and education—they’re things that can really, really affect our future.”
Carolina wide receiver Torrey Smith attended a coalition event with Mecklenburg County schools, the Mecklenburg County sheriff, D.A., as well as representatives from the Player’s Coalition to discuss the intersections of juvenile justice issues, bail reform, public schooling and the various challenges in between.
Smith’s attendance of the Mecklenburg coalition occurred just days after Smith publicly promoted the signing of free safety Eric Reid to help the struggling Carolina secondary. Reid, a former Pro Bowl selection, has been one of Colin Kaepernick’s fiercest supporters and is joined on Kaepernick’s collusion suit against the NFL—but on October 7, Reid dropped to a knee dressed in a freshly-donned Panther’s jersey, continuing his pursuit of bringing light to the racial injustices plaguing America.
Philadelphia’s defensive end Chris Long pledged a quarter of his 2018 salary to launch an organization known as First Quarter for Literacy, aimed to help increase early literacy amongst young children in America. For Long, who previously committed his entire 2017 salary to charitable organizations, the decision was inspired by the fact that kids “don’t pick the economic background…they don’t pick any of the factors that can hold them back, they don’t pick their school system.”
Giants’ wide receiver Odell Beckham Jr. will be attempting to take 250 selfies in under 20 minutes in order to raise money for ShopRite Partners in Caring, an organization that works to fund local food banks in the New Jersey area. For each selfie Beckham takes, a donation to the charity will be made by corporate sponsors.
Chiefs’ tight end Travis Kelce opened a robotics lab for local children in the Kansas City area. For Kelce, “The best way that [he] could relate to helping people out…[was to give children a] positive image and give them motivation to do something special in their lives.” The lab, in partnership with Operation Breakthrough, an academic-based nonprofit that focuses on STEM development in the Kansas City area, will make the robotics lab available to almost 200 children from local schools. To sweeten the deal, the NFLPA pledged an additional $10,000 to the cause after Kelce was nominated as the Week 2 NFLPA Community MVP.
Chicago Bears tight end Trey Burton pledged $1,000 per catch he makes and $2,500 per touchdown in the 2018 season to the International Justice Mission, a nonprofit organization focused on ending human trafficking and modern slavery. For Burton and his wife, both of whom feel passionately about ending human trafficking, they “felt this is what we were called to do, and this is what we’re going to do,” with Burton adding that he is going to do his “best to raise awareness and funds for [IJM]”. Another proud supporter of IJM, Kirk Cousins, competed with Burton last season to see which fanbase could raise the greatest amount of funds, each player matching the contributions from their respective fans.
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