The 2014 Chicago Bears rookie class, including Blake Annen, Conor Boffeli, Ka'Deem Carey, Ahmad Dixon, Brandon Dunn, David Fales, Ego Ferguson, Shamiel Gary, Ryan Groy, Christian Jones, DeDe Lattimore, Charles Leno Jr., Al Louis-Jean, Jacob Maxwell, Terrance Mitchell, Patrick O'Donnell, Michael Ola, Senorise Perry, Will Sutton, and Brock Vereen participated in the annual Bears/United Way "Hometown Huddle" at Kress Creek Farms Park in West Chicago on Tuesday, October 21.
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| DeDe Lattimore |
The Bears, Bears Care and United Way of Metropolitan Chicago partnered to construct a Chicago Bears Fitness Zone, which is a play structure in the park that will allow youth to stay physically active. A dedication ceremony of the Chicago Bears Fitness Zone kicked off the day's activities, followed by the players completing the landscape work around the play structure.
The rookies then ran fitness drills and led activity stations for 100 local students in attendance.
The 2014 Hometown Huddle project began with a $20,000 grant from the Chicago Bears and the NFL Foundation to the United Way of Metropolitan Chicago. Bears Care, the charitable arm of the Chicago Bears, provided a matching grant of $20,000.
The NFL/United Way Hometown Huddle is a league-wide day of service designed to bring awareness and impact to the issue of youth health and fitness. During the 16th annual Hometown Huddle, NFL teams will help members of their community "play 60" by building fitness zones and playgrounds, hosting youth football clinics and helping kids get active for 60 minutes a day.
Play 60 is the NFL's youth health and fitness campaign. Designed to help tackle childhood obesity, Play 60 focuses on making the next generation of kids the most active and healthy by encouraging them to get at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day. The Chicago Bears implement the Play 60 message through a variety of in-school, after-school, web-based and youth-targeted programs that emphasize the importance of physical fitness and healthy lifestyles.
