He says he’d even vote for the Texans star if he could. While all the nominees are worthy, Woodyard can’t see Jenkins, Stills or Garland upsetting Watt for the award. “I’ve had kids come back to me-when I talked to them they were 13 years old and now they’re 18 or 19, and they tell me that some small speech I gave to them in a classroom way back when has really changed their lives. “We have a small time frame where we can use this shield to make a large difference,” he says. Garland’s motivation comes from the knowledge that his career and his NFL platform won’t last forever. Garland graduated from the Air Force Academy and fulfilled his two-year service duty, so he spends much of his community service time with veterans recovering from wounds or dealing with PTSD.
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He tries to participate in one or two events per week and at least 63 charity events per year. Doctor? You can be a doctor.”įalcons guard Ben Garland never takes a week off from community service. We just want to show them keep dreaming and if you want to be an astronaut, you can be an astronaut. I think it is important that our females see Hillary Clinton running for president that’s the first time anyone has seen that. “We’re just trying to get our girls to see that they hold all the power in their hands and they can do whatever they want to do in life. “I just want to try to make it a better world for everybody, but definitely for my daughters,” he says.
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Woodyard’s daughters, two-year-old Noah and nine-month-old Luca, serve as the inspiration for the program. Woodyard’s charity, 16Ways, is involved in a number of efforts, including a program called GYRLS, an acronym for “giving yourself respect and love,” that provides mentorship for girls as they transition to the teen years, developing self-esteem and providing positive direction through activities such as job shadowing, financial education and health and wellness talks. Woodyard’s own community work reflects another current social cause, the women’s movement. The pledge represents the largest amount the NFL would spend on a social cause-more than the Salute to Service and Breast Cancer Awareness/Crucial Catch platforms. In an arrangement with the Players Coalition, a group led in part by Jenkins, the NFL recently pledged to donate nearly $89 million over seven years to projects central to Stills and Jenkins’ focuses-criminal justice reform, law enforcement, community relations and education.