The Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation on Monday put on a Fuel Up to Play 60 event for students of Kelly Miller School in Washington, D.C.
The Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation on Monday put on a Fuel Up to Play 60 event for students of Kelly Miller School in Washington, D.C.
The Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation on Monday put on a Fuel Up to Play 60 event for students at Kelly Miller School in Washington D.C.
The Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation, Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garçon and Redskins cheerleaders Jade K. and Kennedy visited Kelly Miller Middle School in Washington, D.C., on Monday as part of a Fuel Up to Play 60 event to encourage the youth to live an active and healthy lifestyle.
More than 70 students rotated through four stations during the event including dancing, agility drills, and learning about proper nutrition.
The program, Redskins FITT (Frequency, Intensity, Time, and Type), is a curriculum-based initiative for 7th grade students to develop personalized fitness plans.
Redskins FITT was developed in partnership with DC Public Schools and the American Diabetes Association and covers five lessons, one of which focuses on health and nutrition and aligns with the Fuel Up to Play 60 program and messaging.
Despite arriving home late Sunday night from Detroit, Garçon brought tons of energy to the event that was matched by the students.
"It's all about keeping kids active and educating them how to stay active, what to eat, making sure their doing the right things to stay active," Garçon said. "It's very important because it keeps you healthy. Health is very important in our society, and we definitely wanted to start them young so it's not too late later on in life."
The students were pumped to see one of their favorite players, as they held out pens and papers asking for an autograph.
But Garçon would only grant their wish if all the students agreed to eat breakfast every day and pledged to live a healthy lifestyle.
Garçon enjoys giving back to a community that has embraced him since his arrival in 2012.
"I'm involved in a lot of different programs, anything that I can help out in [I do]" Garçon said.
Garcon credited WRCF and Play 60 for granting him opportunities like this to help the community, as well as several people such as the mayor and First Lady for being activists to get the youth active and exercising.
"Some of [these kids] are future Redskins," Garçon said with a smile. "So we want to get them out there early so they can help us."
