LOCAL SCHOOLS TEAMING UP FOR SUPER BOWL PROJECT TO HELP CHILDREN IN NEED

MIAMI-Schools in the greater Miami area are teaming up with the NFL, Miami Dolphins, South Florida Super Bowl Host Committee and the NFL Youth Education Town (YET) of Miami for a Super Bowl project that puts books and sports equipment into the hands of children in need. The project, called Super Kids-Super Sharing, has been implemented in Super Bowl host communities for the past ten years and has placed tens of thousands of books and pieces of sports equipment into the hands of local children who might not otherwise have access to such items. There is still time for area schools to join in this year’s effort.

Participating schools will ask their students to gather up gently used or new books, sports equipment and board games from home and place those items in collection bins at school. Most school collections begin in early January. A week before Super Bowl, donated items will be brought to a collection point where they will be sorted, then distributed to pre-selected schools and organizations serving local children.

The Archdiocese of Miami Schools, Miami-Dade County Public Schools and several private schools have already signed on to participate. Individual schools in those districts and in outlying areas interested in collecting books, games and sports equipment as part of Super Kids-Super Sharing may sign up by contacting Susan Groh at (401) 732-1551 or NFLenvironment@aol.com. The NFL provides instructions, posters, flyer templates and other materials to make it easy for schools to implement this project.

Super Kids-Super Sharing is part of the NFL’s environmental initiative for Super Bowl. The NFL Environmental Program plays an active role behind the scenes at Super Bowl. In addition to Super Kids-Super Sharing, the NFL Environmental Program ensures that tens of thousands of pounds of unserved prepared food from Super Bowl events are distributed to local shelters and community kitchens. The Environmental Program is also responsible for recycling cardboard and other materials from Super Bowl events and donates everything from decorative banners to building materials to local non-profit agencies. Several tree planting projects are being developed as part of Super Bowl. ‘Green power’ will also be used to power Dolphin Stadium for Super Bowl XLIV and Pro Bowl.

The NFL Environmental Program is just one of a large number of community events and initiatives implemented each year by the NFL to leave a positive legacy in each Super Bowl host community.