The New England Patriots measure their success on the field and off the field, so the NFL's My Cause My Cleats initiative is a great way to celebrate that community outreach.
With more than 40 members of the organization participating this season, from players to coaches to staff, a variety of causes and non-profits will be represented. Some Patriots players are even using the opportunity to raise awareness for their own foundations that are making a real impact.
"The biggest question I hear is how do I have the time," said defensive end Lawrence Guy. "The biggest question I hear is how I have the time. You make the time because it's important to you. We make time out of our day to make sure we can go out in the community with the resources we have and uplift. Uplift another human being and there's a domino effect. That's the most important thing."
Guy will be representing the Lawrence Guy Family Foundation, and Deatrich Wise Jr. (Wise Up Foundation), Davon Godchaux (CHAUXDOWN Foundation), Trent Brown (TB77 Cares) and Kendrick Bourne (BOURNEBLESSED Foundation) have opted for a similar path.
Deatrich Wise Jr. – Wise Up Foundation
The Patriots captain won the Ron Burton Community Service Award before the 2022 season started, and for good reason. Through his Wise Up Foundation, the defensive end and his family host an annual block party in Mattapan, big man football camps, and several other community outreach programs.
"I believe the more experiences you have the more opportunities you have to create in life," Wise Jr. said.
"It's dear to my family and I because we created it. We're standing for wisdom, information, and education. We like to hold events throughout the community that promote those things, along with as inspire. We have a few things that we do in the community. We do football camps. I like to showcase and give opportunities to high school kids from seventh grade to 12th grade, o-line and d-line. We teach them about their skills on the field to help them further their career. Then off the field we talk to them about life lessons and are working on giving them scholarships. I have the Mattapan Block Party. That's pretty neat. It's a good neighborhood but there's not a lot of good news that come out of it. We work with military children as well."
Lawrence Guy – Lawrence Guy Family Foundation
Guy and his wife, Andrea, are incredibly involved with their foundation, branching out to a number to causes they care about, from backpack giveaways to hosting baby showers for single mothers.
"We put 'family' in there because it's a family conversation, we sit at the table, we go over what we care about and what we want to bring that to the community," Guy said.
"We work with a lot of kids from human trafficking situations, kids with learning challenges, domestic violence. We get them ready for school, so we try to make sure that we have a backpack giveaway -- that everybody has good quality backpacks, tools and utensils so they can start their day right, start the year right. My wife and I go in. I say what touches me. She says what she's impacted by. We put things together to make everyone grow and tell them what our platform is. We go out there on Sundays and enjoy the experience, we hear these fans yelling for us. They're going through something too. Let's make sure they understand we hear their voices."
Learn more about other organizations the Patriots are supporting for My Cause My Cleats.
