Popsicles and Playtime

On a sunny afternoon on Thursday, August 17, more than 100 families flocked outside of JoAnn LeLeck Elementary School. The reason for all the afternoon excitement? Maryland football stars Taulia Tagovailoa and Jeshaun Jones were coming to the school for a ‘Popsicles and Playtime’ service event in partnership with both The Best Is Ahead Foundation (TBIAF) and EveryBody Wins DC.

While at the school, the two players handed out free back-to-school supplies, gave out popsicles and each read a children’s book aloud to the kids who were gathered. 

Initially, 40-50 families were expected to be in attendance, but that ballooned to over 100 families with close to 500 people in total, requiring an extra set of school supplies to be brought in. By the time the players’ designated time at the school was up, the line for supplies still extended far off the playground. 

“It’s special to come out here and see the smiles on the kids' faces when they see us,” Tagovailoa said. “It’s very cool what the TBIA Foundation is doing by setting it up for us to come out and make a difference in the community.“

Popsicles and Playtime is just one of many community-based events that the TBIA Foundation has put on in the past year as part of its mission to partner the University of Maryland football players with the youth in the surrounding community to build a better tomorrow. In response, fans and supporters can donate on the TBIAF website to compensate the student-athletes for their work in the community. 

“A big thing that Coach Locksley and I look at now when we’re looking at the TBIA Foundation, is that we didn’t always have opportunities like this when we were growing up,” said Dan Crowley, TBIAF’s Executive Vice President. “We especially did not have many opportunities to see the people we looked up to as kids like Taulia and Jeshaun out and about in our communities and helping out. We want to give the underserved youth these opportunities and give them these role models.”

While the majority of the school the player visits are in DC, they have made numerous stops at LeLeck Elementary, creating a sense of familiarity and trust between the team and the community. And now that the kids have seen the Maryland players a few times, they have become their real-life heroes.

“These kids look up to the players—and I mean, they literally look up—in a way they don’t look up to you and I,” said Jordi Hutchinson, EveryBody Wins DC’s Executive Director. “When they see someone they can relate to, it’s just so different and it translates so much more and in a much more exciting way.”

More specifically, Hutchinson and her team regard the players as Reading Role Models. Their presence creates exhilaration around the concept of reading, something that is incredibly important as the young kids start to climb the academic ladder.

“They really help translate the joy of reading into personification,” Hutchinson said. “When the players show up, the kids associate that with the joy of reading, which then trickles into other areas. So now, when they see the players, when they see that Maryland logo, they know there’s going to be something fun and exciting. The kids really own that and it makes them keep showing up over and over again and that’s why you see the numbers continue to grow at these events.”

It’s not only the kids who benefit from the events, however. The players get just as much out of the experience.

“It means a lot to me personally to be able to get out and go into the community to help out,” Jones said. “It’s amazing that we get this opportunity to give back.”

“It’s always special for me to see our boys from Maryland come out and interact with young people,” Crowley added. “As you look at Jeshaun and Taulia, and see them handing out books as they’re reading and interacting with the kids, they almost get more out of it than the young people. I can see it impacting their lives which makes our mission that much more special.”

From the long line for school supplies that lasted the duration of the event to the big smiles on the children’s faces as Tagovailia and Jones read their books, the large impact made in just one afternoon was tangible.

“It was only supposed to be 50 or so families and the line is still going an hour later,” Tagovailoa said. “I think that shows how much of an impact we’re making, which is very cool for us to see.”

And for the Maryland football players, and not just the two in attendance last week but all of them, the opportunity to impact young lives is something they embrace.

“I think having people like us, people whose brands carry a little bit of weight because we’re Maryland football players, actually go out into the community and do things to help and to make kids smile, that’s something that’s very needed,” Jones said. “It’s something I really enjoy doing too and I know that’s the same for a lot of my teammates.”