WAUKEGAN, Ill. – After running and lifting weights Wednesday at Halas Hall, 15 Bears rookies took a break from the offseason conditioning program and volunteered their time for a good cause.

The group took a bus to the Boys and Girls Club of Lake County in Waukegan, where they helped refurbish what will become a teen center and also led over 30 children in a football clinic.

Bears receiver Johnny Knox works with kids at the Boys and Girls Club of Lake County Wednesday.

“It’s always rewarding to do something like this,” said Bears top draft pick Jarron Gilbert, a defensive lineman from San Jose State. “Anytime you get a chance to help people out who really need it, it’s a good feeling. We’re here for the kids and we hope they enjoy it.”

Bears general manager Jerry Angelo and his wife, Bernie, are heavily involved with the Boys and Girls Club of Lake County. The Angelos helped raise $71,000 for the organization by selling $15 raffle tickets for a motorcycle that was donated by a Harley Davidson dealership in Lisle and signed by Bears players.

From that donation, $31,000 was used to purchase a home across the street from the Boys and Girls Club that is being converted into a teen center. On Wednesday, the Bears rookies donned protective gloves and tore old carpeting out of the house, hauling it to a nearby dumpster.

“This is really great,” Angelo said. “This is one of the fun parts of the job. I know the guys were looking forward to it. We’re all blessed being in sports and we know that. This is our way of showing some appreciation and giving back.

“They’ve got a great thing going on here at the Boys and Girls Club and we’re just privileged to be here today and share with them.”

Asked why he selected that specific organization as his charity of choice, the Bears general manager said: “You kind of follow your heart and you let God direct you, and this is where He’s led us, myself and my wife. We’ve met a lot of great people here. We’ve been involved with the Boys and Girls Club in some capacity for a few years and we really feel a lot of enjoyment spending time with the kids.

“These are very good kids. All they want is a little opportunity, and if we can in some small way make it a little bit easier for them, I’m happy to do so.”

Angelo did more than just donate his time Wednesday. Like the rookies, he got down on his hands and knees to pull up carpeting in the home.

Bears rookies Johan Asiata (left) and Will Ta'ufo'ou remove carpet from what will become a teen center Wednesday at the Boys and Girls Club in Waukegan.

“I was telling some of the guys that it makes you appreciate your day job,” he said with a laugh. “But it’s good to sweat in a good way.”

After working on the home, the players headed across the street into a gymnasium where they tutored kids from the Boys and Girls Club in flag football drills.

“It really makes their day and just for us to come out here and share a couple hours with them, it’s a very rewarding feeling for us,” said receiver Derek Kinder, a seventh-round pick from Pittsburgh.

“Taking a step into their lives, it makes you think about everything and how fortunate we are. They go through a lot more struggles than we do. All we’ve got to do is lift and run, and they’ve got to deal with the hardships of real life, so it’s definitely rewarding for us to come and help them.”

Before the kids arrived for the flag football clinic, the Bears rookies shot baskets in the gym. Gilbert dunked the ball with ease, but cornerback D.J. Moore put on an even more impressive exhibition.

The 5-8, 192-pounder showed his athleticism by tossing the ball toward the basket, scooping it up off one bounce and dunking it all in one motion. Moore also beat his teammates in two games of “knockout,” a contest where players are eliminated when they fail to make a basket before the next person in line.

In addition to Gilbert, Kinder and Moore, other rookies who visited the Boys and Girls Club were Johan Asiata, Dennis Conley, Dahna Deleston, Marcus Freeman, Juaquin Iglesias, Johnny Knox, Lance Louis, Kevin Malast, Henry Melton, Mike Rivera, Will Ta'ufo'ou and Woodny Turenne.

Wednesday’s event was the first of four volunteer activities the Bears rookies will support as part of the “Rookie Rally” program, which was created by the Bears’ community relations department to involve the team’s rookies in charitable activities throughout the season.

The program helps the rookies learn more about their new community, serve several worthwhile charitable organizations in the area, and bond together as a group through volunteerism.

“We’ve done a lot together and we’ve really gotten to know each other and are becoming tighter as a rookie class,” Gilbert said. “We’re all becoming friends and having a good time.”