A NFL player teamed up with a New York City detective to tackle a shortage of football safety gear for children in Queens and has offered to teach the youngsters crucial on-the-field skills.
Rookie player Derek “Bone-crusher” Dennis, of the Carolina Panthers, met with kids in Cambria Heights to kick off a fund-raising campaign to supply the South Side Sea Hawks with helmets, padding and other equipment to get in the game. He’s also going to teach the kids some skills during a football camp in June.
NYPD Detective Patrick Blanc started the fundraising effort through a volunteer program that he founded in 2008. Last year, Embrace Ya Kidz raised a little over $20,000 for the children, ages 5 through 14. This year, Blanc is hoping the star power will help score as much as $60,000.
Dennis grew up in Laurelton, Queens, where 15 members of his family shared one small home. The hulking 315-pound, 6-foot-3 rookie jumped at the chance to come home and reach out to kids who face the same obstacles he did.
“I grew up rough. I don’t forget where I come from,” he told the Post. “My parents worked hard and as I got older things got better for my family but at one point we were living out of a car.”
This year, he’s earning $450,000.
“I want to give the kids every opportunity that I had, kids who maybe didn’t have a chance, whose parents couldn’t afford it.”
Dennis’s visit home was a welcome surprise for about 275 kids who showed up to meet him at P.S. 147 in Cambria Heights on Saturday. It’s also a boost for Blanc, 45, who is assigned to the NYPD’s Central Robbery Division and has worked tirelessly to contribute to the communities he protects.
“We just wanted to let the kids meet a real NFL player because nothing like this happens happens in Queens,” Blanc said. “It’s important to me to give the kids an outlet so they can have an outlet. Growing up in a single-parent home wasn’t easy. I just want to give each kid today an opportunity to have a good life.”