Throughout their time in Arizona, the Cardinals have had a major impact on the city they are playing in, and the state they represent.
Despite ups and downs on the field, off the field the Arizona Cardinals have been and continue to be leaders in the community and they do so in communities all over the state.
This last week the team donated their third turf field in conjunction with the NFL and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), from the team:
The Arizona Cardinals Football Club has partnered with the National Football League Foundation Grassroots Program to grant $250,000 to the Alhambra Elementary School District to install a synthetic turf football field at Glendale’s James W. Rice Elementary School.
The grant from the Cardinals, the NFL Foundation, and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) is part of $6 million in field refurbishment awards allocated this year. The District will build a new multi-sport playing field that will serve 2,100 students and youth football players.
This was slightly different that the Cardinals first two fields, which were donated in partnership with State Farm, for the Good Neighbor Fields grants where the team donated turf fields to high schools for their football program, with Canyon State Academy and Mesquite High School each getting new fields.
Helping out local high schools is not the only thing, the Cardinals are deeply invested in their players and the causes their players find important.
Even those who are no longer with the team, or in the case of Kwammie Lassiter, who have passed away.
The Cardinals teamed up with Erika Lassiter to help promote “The Kwamie Lassiter Foundation,” from the team:
Benefiting “The Kwamie Lassiter Foundation,” the golf event will be attended by Cardinals alumni including Lorenzo Alexander, Michael Bankston, Larry Centers, Ronald McKinnon, Jake Plummer, Frank Sanders and Roger Werhli, among others.
“The Kwamie Lassiter Foundation” is committed to continuing his vision by establishing opportunities that promote comprehensive awareness of healthy lifestyles and bringing awareness to Sickle Cell Anemia. In addition, KLF T.A.C.K.L.E (Teaching All Children to Kickoff Leadership in Education) seeks to change the way children are motivated and to encourage their success in education.
The Arizona Cardinals are also represented within the community by their amazing players.
We could list what every player does, but it is great to highlight two.
First, you have Zach Ertz who literally just came to the team midway through the season and he is already embracing the community.
Julie and Zach took 15 kids from the Boys and Girls Club of Arizona shopping for the holiday, something that is sure to make a new player a fan favorite amongst the younger generation.
However, Ertz is still in deep in Philadelphia and he has an amazing charity that you have to check out their House of Hope Project.
They explain their passion for the project:
Now is the time to begin the Ertz Family Foundation’s most important project to date, the “House of Hope Project”. We are eternally touched by all the love and support we have received since we started our mission of giving back to the community in 2018. The House of Hope is our most important endeavor to illuminate the grit and indomitable determination of the “City of Brotherly Love”…
In view of the negative impact on our city’s most vulnerable citizens brought on by COVID-19, Julie and I felt compelled to spring to action. Consequently, Julie began volunteering every week by supporting our community initiatives, forming bonds with youth and families, and learning about the issues struggled with every day. While volunteering, we were able to gather insight into the specific needs of the community. We discovered that the youth not only athletic engagement and opportunities, but also need school and career support, Wi-Fi access, healthy food options, employment support, and financial literacy. The options for support are endless.
When Ertz arrived in the valley though, he immediately leapt into action, donating 5,000 meals per touchdown scored by the team.
Yet, no player embraces the community quite like the Arizona Cardinals Walter Payton Man of the Year candidate Kelvin Beachum.
Whether it is in Arizona or his hometown of Mexia, Texas Beachum is at the forefront of giving back.
In Arizona, just recently Beachum and his foundation donated over 40 laptops and tablets to C.O. Greenfield School in south Phoenix.
In fact, Beachum’s huge in giving access for kids in need of digital and technology help.
From the team:
Closing the “digital divide” is another cause of particular significance to Beachum and was the topic of an NFL.com op-ed that he penned last December in which he expressed concern for children of color and students for underserved communities lacking access to internet and technology. This winter, he will donate laptops and tablets to Arizona schools to address those concerns and help bridge that divide. Last October, he announced the NFL’s Player Coalition’s donation of $50,000 to help install new internet access points for 25 school campuses in the Ector County Independent School District in West Texas, and in 2020, he made a $15,000 donation through Donors Choose to fund 34 projects across Arizona school districts to support STEAM education resources, diverse books for classroom libraries and clean water access.
In 2016, Beachum created “Kelvin Konnects,” a STEAM initiative and program designed to increase minority access to careers within the Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics disciplines. As part of that program, “Kelvin Konnects” works with students of the Barack Obama Male Leadership Academy in Dallas and pairs them with industry leaders, local and federal elected officials and offers the opportunity for the students to immerse themselves in the world of STEAM. Each year, he also provides a backpack full of school supplies for each of the 500 children who participant in his annual football camp in Mexia.
That annual football camp is free for the kids in Mexia, and it just shows the type of person Beachum is. He gets his friends to come out and help out as well.
It is incredible what the Arizona Cardinals do within the community and for that, we are all grateful.