HOUSTON — Rookies from the Houston Texans took kids on a shopping spree of an Academy Sports + Outdoors store Tuesday morning to give them presents they might not otherwise get.
Seven children from the Boys and Girls Club of Greater Houston and seven from the Houston Texans YMCA got to pick out clothes, toys, and more as the players helped.
One focus for many of these kids: price. Some of the kids come from families with single parents or are dealing with economic hardships. Tuesday's event hoped to level the playing field.
”I told her just to not worry about the price right now. What you need, we’re going to get for her," Nate Hall, a rookie linebacker for the Texans, said.
The 10-year-old girl he was paired with, named Analiah Espinoza, said she does not own many pairs of shoes, and loves to play soccer.
HOLIDAY GIVING
Eleven-year-old Vanessa Vega is similar: an avid soccer goalie, who has never owned a pair of gloves. Until Tuesday.
”I was about to tear up," Vega said about seeing the players walking in. "I was just happy to see them.”
Rookie defensive end Ira Savage-Lewis knows what these kids deal with every day. He grew up in Alief, and spent time at the Houston Texans YMCA.
"I was one of that kid growing up. Being able to help, man, it just means a lot to me and I wish I could reach out to a lot of other kids that don’t have the same things and same opportunities," said Savage-Lewis.
From his roots, Savage-Lewis is just like them. Thanks in part to support at the YMCA, he is now also a Houston Texan.
"[The YMCA] helped make me the man I am today," he said.
While money may be no object to a professional football player, many of them know the struggle of making ends meet, and what it means to take that struggle away for these kids, even if only for an hour.
"I’m thankful, basically. I did not think this day would ever come," said Espinoza.
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