NFL Celebrates Kickoff Week With Projects To Benefit Community

TAMPA, FL — In the lead-up to the Dallas vs. Tampa Bay Kickoff game in Tampa Thursday, the NFL will host a series of community and service events to celebrate the start of the league's long-awaited season.

From local efforts to fight hunger, events that honor military members and community greening projects, the NFL plans to leave a lasting, positive impact on Tampa and the surrounding areas.

As a follow-up event to Super Bowl LV, the NFL will start kickoff week by celebrating the "Passing of the Golden Shovel" from the 2021 Super Bowl host, Tampa, to 2022 Super Bowl host, Los Angeles Wednesday from 8 to 11 a.m. at the Forest Hills Park Community Center in Tampa.

The shovel represents the efforts of NFL Green to make environmental improvements in every Super Bowl city. Throughout the year, NFL Green has worked alongside Verizon, Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful, The Tampa Bay Estuary Program and the Tampa Bay Sports Commission to restore and plant sand dunes on Picnic Island.

Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful, Verizon, the Tampa Bay Sports Commission and NFL Green will continue those efforts Wednesday by building and installing a hydroponic garden and pollinator gardens at the Forest Hills Park community center.

To close out the week, NFL Green will join Force Blue, Pepsi Stronger Together, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, National Association of Underwater Instructors, Keep Florida Beautiful and The Florida Aquarium for a marine debris and ghost fishing gear removal operation along with a pier cleanup at Anna Maria Island Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Local volunteers will join divers from Force Blue who will handle the underwater portion of this community cleanup.

The NFL's Inspire Change Huddle Legacy event Tuesday will honor the league's commitment to help close the digital divide.

A continuation of the Inspire Change Legacy Grant Program, launched during the 2021 Draft week, the NFL Foundation and Cisco, the NFL's official technology partner, each donated $75,000 to Safe & Sound Hillsborough violence prevention initiative to help fund support tech upgrades, technology infrastructure improvements and enhanced programming for Safe & Sound Hillsborough's reporting center as well as support online STEM curriculum for the youth.

Additionally, representatives from the NFL, along with NFL Legends, will take part in a one-hour STEM curriculum and peer-to-peer engagement.

The presentation will take place from Sept. 7 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Kings Forest Recreation Center, 8008 E. Chelsea St. Tampa.

The NFL will also work with the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay and The Spring of Tampa Bay, dropping off backpacks full of school supplies to Tampa Bay families.

To honor military members and their families, the NFL, Tampa Bay Sports Commission and Force Blue will host a Salute to Service event, sharing the documentary, "100 Yards of Hope,"with hundreds of Tampa Bay service members Tuesday at 7 p.m. at the Tampa Theatre.

The film focuses on the collective partnership between the NFL, special operations military divers, scientists and natural resource managers who came together to restore a football field-sized coral reef for Super Bowl LVI and LV.

The NFL and the United Service Organizations will also host an event inside the NFL Kickoff Experience that invites fans to prepare care packages for service members during the upcoming holiday season.

Ahead of kickoff on Thursday, the NFL will also work with Feeding Tampa Bay to host two Huddle to Tackle Hunger events. This builds upon the initial program that was launched at Super Bowl LV in which the NFL Foundation made a $250,000 donation to Feeding Tampa Bay to combat food insecurity in the area, an issue that has been exacerbated by the pandemic.

The events will take place at Feeding Tampa Bay's Trinity Cafés at 2801 N. Nebraska Ave. and 2202 E. Busch Blvd. in Tampa, which serves daily hot meals to hungry residents. On Thursday from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., NFL Legends will help hand out healthy meals as well as NFL-branded merchandise.

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