Another week, another Super Kids–Super Sharing project.
With New Jersey and New York co-hosting the big game, the Super Bowl Host Committee's charity event, which enables hundreds of students to donate sports equipment, books, school supplies and used cellphones to other less fortunate school children, was held twice, once in each state.
Last Thursday it was New Jersey native Kyle Wilson representing the Green & White in Newark.This morning, it was New Yorker Jaiquawn Jarrett at Riverbank State Park in New York City.
"Today was amazing," Jarrett told newyorkjets.com. "I got the opportunity to interact with the kids who were receiving a lot of things that will be useful to them in school and with their athletics, so I had to thank all of the kids and teachers who were part of the staff for showing their support. It was a great event."
The used cellphones will be given to domestic-violence shelters through Verizon's HopeLine project while all other donated items will go toward schools in lower-income communities.
Jarrett's favorite part of his morning was seeing the smiles on the faces of a countless number of kids. Many of those ear-to-ear grins came from seeing him, Giants guard Kevin Boothe, and the Flight Crew cheerleaders. "But just seeing them interact with one another, having fun and enjoying youth — that's what it's all about," he said.
Kids helping other kids "says a lot about their character," Jarrett added, "what this young generation can and will become. Being able to help each other and give back is what life's all about. That's how they're going to be able to build relationships that will go with them the rest of their lives."
Speaking of life-long relationships, JJ's been spending time with former Temple Owl and current Jets teammate Muhammad Wilkerson throughout his first couple weeks of the offseason.
Next week, he'll be attending various youth football banquets in Brooklyn, looking to spread his message that anything is possible as long as your head's on right and you have a strong support system of family and friends in place.
Before too long, though, it'll be back to the grind.
"You take a week off from training and it feels like you've been out of football for a month," Jarrett said. "I'm going to use my offseason to work on a lot of speed and agility things along with my technique. The offseason's always about improving yourself, so it's going to be a great opportunity for me to get a lot of work done, and it's going to be fun."
