Patriots players surprise Woonsocket students with school gear
· Yahoo Sports
For the third consecutive year, Gatorade and the New England Patriots Foundation hosted the “Get Fit for School” program, which champions youth academics and athletics and gives local students a jumpstart on the new school year on Tuesday, Aug. 4.
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This year, 50 students from the Northern Rhode Island Boys & Girls Club in Woonsocket were invited to watch Patriots training camp from the Community Relations Tent. At least that’s all that the kids thought they were doing.
After practice, Patriots players surprised the students by gifting them backpacks, donated by Gatorade, filled with school supplies for the upcoming school year. Those supplies included: pens, pencils, notebooks, folders and anything else they needed to succeed in the classroom.
“This was out of the blue,” said Bonnie Piekarski, clubhouse director of the Northern Rhode Island Boys & Girls Club. “We got a call from the Patriots Foundation, [and] we jumped at the opportunity.”
Some of the players who gifted the backpacks to the students were quarterback Drake Maye and cornerback Christian Gonzalez, which, understandably, caused the kids to start screaming.
About 30 percent of the kids at the Northern Rhode Island Boys & Girls Club live in poverty, according to Piekarski.
“It means a lot to the kids and a lot to the families to start out with success,” Piekarski said.
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Patriots players surprise Woonsocket students with school gear