In honor of the 37th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day on February first, the Philadelphia Eagles have started a long term, strategic partnership with Operation Warm in order to design, manufacture, and distribute 30,000 sports bras throughout the tri-state area. Just last year, the organization gave $100,000 in equipment to increase access to girls’ youth sports. This year, they will expand to serving 10,000 to 15,000 more girls attending mid to high need schools located in Philadelphia.
Jeffrey Lurie, Chairman and CEO for the Eagles stated in an official statement, “We believe that fostering a love for sports and healthy competition at the youth level can open new doors and pathways for children everywhere, There are many benefits that come with participating in sports and these opportunities should be extended equally to boys and girls of all ages. We believe that fostering a love for sports and healthy competition at the youth level can open new doors and pathways for children everywhere, There are many benefits that come with participating in sports and these opportunities should be extended equally to boys and girls of all ages.”
He continued to say that, “What we have seen over the years in our effort to help grow the game of football is that far too many roadblocks are keeping young girls on the sideline. We identified this issue last year and came to the realization that a one-time donation was not sustainable. We wanted to think bigger and more innovatively to find a long-term, scalable solution that could impact the next generation of girls for years to come. Our partnership with Operation Warm is going to help level the playing field so girls from all backgrounds can compete safely, comfortably, and confidently with the proper equipment.”
The pilot program will be entirely modeled after Operation Warm’s mission to connect the underserved children to the community resources that they need. Every girl that is in the program is going to receive two to three sports bras in order to ensure that they are properly outfitted to be able to take part in sports. The program will start with just three local high schools receiving sports bras in February and in March, 1,500 more will be given at the Eagles Jamboree to participants of the Eagles Girls Flag Football League. While the Eagles and Operation Warm plan to distribute the full 30,000 sports bras in Fall of 2023.
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