NFL HEALTH UPDATE—APRIL 23, 2014
CHARGERS' DONATION AIDS SCHOOL'S FITNESS PROGRAM
The San Diego Chargers and their Chargers Champions program provided Washington Middle School with a $22,000 grant last week, subsidizing a new aquatic fitness program for the school's 750 students. The funds were used to purchase a variety of equipment, including water polo nets and balls, water weights, diving rings, kickboards, and water basketball hoops.
Chargers Champions, a program of the Chargers Community Foundation, is committed to improving physical fitness in San Diego County schools by providing grants for new facilities and equipment. Since the program's inception in 2000, the Spanos family has donated more than $4.75 Million to San Diego's schools and students.
"Many students come from disadvantaged backgrounds and don't have access to pools, water equipment or water safety programs in general," said Eric Chagala, principal at Washington Middle School. "By having the pool equipment, we're able to make students' water safe and help build their health, tie it into areas of nutrition and get kids really excited about being active and having healthy lifestyles."
At the grant presentation, Chargers safety Brandon Taylor talked to the students and emphasized the value of exercise and staying fit.
WASHINGTON REDSKINS CHARITABLE FOUNDATION AND OWNER DAN SNYDER BUILD PLAYGROUND FOR CHILDREN IN D.C.
Washington Redskins owner Dan Snyder, the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation and Redskins' alumni recently joined Clark Construction Group, the Community Preservation and Development Corporation (CPDC) and KaBOOM! to build a playground for children in the CPDC Cedar Heights community in Southeast Washington, D.C.
Snyder was joined by more than 200 volunteers, as well as Redskins tight end Niles Paul and alumni Mark Rypien, Dion Foxx, Dan Ryzcek and Roy Jefferson.
"The Redskins Charitable Foundation is proud to support the Play 60 program, which encourages all children to play 60 minutes a day. This playground will provide that important, safe and fun space for play," said Snyder.
FORMER PLAYER BENEFITS
Here are some statistics on programs that provide benefits to former NFL players:
- Retired players have received $67,877,692 through the Bert/Rozelle retirement plan in the past 12 months
- In the same time period, former players' widows and surviving children have received more than $10,544,582
- 294 applications have been approved under the 88 Plan since its inception in 2007.
- Since 2007, more than $30 million has been distributed through the 88 Plan.
- Since its creation in 2007, the NFL Player Care Foundation has issued more $5,998,832 in grants to 601 former players to cover medical and housing expenses.
-- NFL Communications