Easy Tweet: @NFL and @UnitedWay kick off 18th annual Hometown Huddle league-wide day of service, celebrate youth health and wellness (@nflplay60) FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 10/17/16 NFL AND UNITED WAY CELEBRATE YOUTH HEALTH AND WELLNESS WITH LEAGUE-WIDE DAY OF SERVICE NFL and Teams Participate in 18th Annual NFL-United Way Hometown Huddle Day of Service 2016 Marks 43rd Year of NFL-United Way Partnership On October 18, the NFL and United Way are teaming for the 18th annual Hometown Huddle, a league-wide day of service during which NFL coaches, players and executives help members of their communities PLAY 60. From building fitness zones and playgrounds to hosting youth football clinics, all 32 NFL teams will help kids to get active for 60 minutes a day as part of NFL PLAY 60, the league’s youth health and wellness campaign. Now in its 43rd year, the NFL-United Way partnership connects NFL PLAY 60 with United Way’s goal to get more young people healthy and active. United Way, which is established in more than 1,200 communities across America, is creating healthier communities by increasing access to nutritious foods, creating more opportunities for physical exercise and play, as well as raising awareness about the benefits of living healthier lifestyles. “We’re very proud of our longstanding partnership with United Way and the ways it continues to positively impact our youngest fans,” said NFL Senior Vice President of Social Responsibility ANNA ISAACSON. “Through platforms like Hometown Huddle, we’re able to encourage more youth across the country to PLAY 60 and live a healthy lifestyle.” “We all win when we live united and our longtime partnership with the NFL is a great example of the good that comes when we work together towards a common goal,” said United Way Worldwide President and Chief Executive Officer BRIAN GALLAGHER. “By forging unlikely partnerships, finding new solutions to old problems and mobilizing the best resources, we’ve brought fun fitness programs to more than 35,000 kids across the nation.” Below is a snapshot of how the 32 NFL teams are working with United Way to celebrate Hometown Huddle. New York-based NFL employees will join volunteers from United Way of New York City at East Success Gardens Park and Brooklyn Gardens Elementary today to help transform outdoor learning spaces and host a PLAY 60 clinic. NFL employees in Culver City, Calif. will lead a PLAY 60 clinic and deliver health and wellness kits to a local school. The NFL and United Way invite fans to show how they lead healthy and active lifestyles by tagging @NFLPLAY60 and using the hashtag #HometownHuddle in images on social media channels. Photos will be featured on unitedway.org/play60. NFL PLAY 60 brings together the NFL’s long-standing commitment to health and wellness with partner organizations to increase physical activity among youth. PLAY 60 also is implemented locally, as part of the NFL's in-school, after-school and team-based programs. All 32 clubs incorporate PLAY 60 locally by hosting thousands of events annually. To learn more about NFL-United Way partnership or NFL PLAY 60 visit unitedway.org/play60 and NFLRUSH.com/play60 or follow @UnitedWay and @NFLPLAY60 on Twitter. TEAM HOMETOWN HUDDLE ACTIVITIES Arizona Cardinals On Tuesday, Nov. 8, the Cardinals’ Hometown Huddle event will feature the building of the Community Garden for House of Helps in South Phoenix. The event will encourage Phoenix youth and families to get active for 60 minutes a day, and the food grown in the Garden will feed the South Phoenix Community. Cardinals’ ownership, coaches, players, and front office staff will participate in the building of the Community Garden along with providing football-themed activities in support of NFL PLAY 60. Atlanta On Tuesday, Oct. 4 the Falcons and United Way engaged the community at 12 different locations Falcons throughout Atlanta for Hometown Huddle. Groups of current and Falcons alumni players, Falcons Women’s Association members and United Way volunteers visited the various locations. The community service engagements included the Atlanta Falcons reading to students, hosting a PLAY 60 camp, surprising teachers in appreciation, serving food at a homeless shelter, delivering meals to senior citizens and visiting local children’s hospitals. ARTHUR BLANK, Atlanta Falcons’ owner and chairman, and RICH McKAY, president and CEO, also participated in the events. Baltimore Ravens On Monday, Oct. 17, the Ravens will host their fifth annual Ravens TEAM Challenge at Under Armour’s Banner Field in Baltimore City. Players will serve as team captains to the eight different youth teams: Relentless, Courage, Victory, Triumph, Conquer, Intensity, Loyalty and United. Ravens staff and members of the Lady Ravens, which comprises of coaches and players' wives, will volunteer alongside staff from the United Way, M&T Bank and Under Armour. Under the guidance of Playworks Maryland, fourth and fifth grade students from Dr. Carter G. Woodson and George Washington Elementary schools will participate in challenges such as kickball, dodgeball, ultimate football and a series of relays. At the end of the event, one team will be declared TEAM Challenge champions, based upon total points accumulated. In addition, each student will receive a new pair of sneakers, provided by Under Armour. Buffalo On Tuesday, Oct. 18, the Bills will partner with United Way of Buffalo and Erie County and Bills American Dairy Association and Dairy Council to host a visit to a local dairy farm with 40 local students from a local school involved in the Fuel Up to Play 60 Farm to School Grant Program. The dairy farm visit will feature two interactive stations where the students and Bills players will have the opportunity to feed calves, milk a cow, and conclude with a healthy lunch. Carolina Panthers On Tuesday, Oct. 4, in celebration of Hometown Huddle, the Panthers partnered with the Southeast Dairy Association and the United Way of Central Carolinas to host a Day of Play at a local elementary school. Over 500 students will participate in football drills and activity stations with Panthers players, dairy farmers and United Way volunteers. The team will also award $30,000 in PLAY 60 grants to schools and youth service organizations across North and South Carolina to support a variety of youth health and wellness programs including playground refurbishments, purchase of physical education equipment or interactive fitness installations. Chicago On Tuesday, Oct. 11, the Bears teamed with the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago, Bears Bears Care and PNC for their Hometown Huddle event. The Bears and Bears Care contributed $40,000 to help complete a play space for El Valor, a multicultural, multipurpose organization that provides an array of inclusive, holistic services to more than 4,000 children, families, and adults with disabilities annually. Features of the new play space include new ADA accessible play structures, an outdoor classroom and a small turf-field. Bears’ rookies and alumni will help finish the project and present a check. In addition, Bears Care awarded El Valor a $50,000 grant to assist them in providing inclusive, holistic health and wellness education and activities to children and their families who receive services from the center. Cincinnati Bengals On Tuesday, Oct. 18, the Bengals will install a Challenge Course with artificial turf-flooring for all ages at the Ryan Sports Complex in Westwood, OH. The new concept of outdoor fitness will be the first such installation in the state of Ohio. Along with the Challenge Course, the Bengals will also install the following: • New playground structure for all ages • Incorporate four accessible fitness equipment structures around the existing walking track • Provide new basketball hoops, nets and repaint the basketball posts at Gamble Montessori School • Improve Gamble Montessori’s garden, where students grow fruits and vegetables and teachers are able to utilize the garden as a teaching tool • Beautify the space with landscaping and hand painted bench seating Cleveland Browns On Tuesday, Oct. 18, the Browns and United Way of Greater Cleveland will team to build a new playground, to include ADA features, plus equipment to meet the ability of pre-K students at a local Cleveland school. The new playground is part of an overall space transformation, as volunteers will also refurbish the existing play space. Projects will include, painting, prepping space for new rubber surface installation, adding slides, new swings, benches and a colorful mural. At Luis Munoz Martin School, volunteers will help install the new playground that will include a double slide, climbing ramp with cable, step climber, clover climber, rock climber, three stepping pods, hand-over-hand ladder, two decks and an ADA transfer position. Art murals will be painted in addition to resurfacing the basketball court, adding new benches, picnic tables and B.R.O.W.N.S. bike racks. In support of NFL PLAY 60, nearly 100 volunteers and Browns players will join together through the Browns First and Ten volunteer movement for this project that will be enjoyed by hundreds of students and families in the inner city. Dallas Cowboys On Oct. 31, EverFi, the Dallas Cowboys, United Way of Metro Dallas (UWMD), and United Way of Tarrant County (UWTC) will launch Character Playbook, a new digital initiative that educates students on how to cultivate and maintain healthy relationships during their critical middle school years. As part of the launch, the Cowboys, UWMD and UWTC will visit two schools: Staley Middle School in Frisco Independent School District and Workman Junior High School in Arlington Independent School District. The events will feature the Cowboys’ Rookie Club as well as other special guests like mascot Rowdy. In both events, Cowboys players will engage with students as they leverage the new digital course in a computer lab setting, and then in a larger school assembly setting.