Panthers star Jeremy Chinn partners with Charlotte Family Housing and UnitedHealthcare to provide kids with school supplies
“I love being that example, I love being here… providing any type of hope or whatever it may be.”
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (WBTV) - Before Jeremy Chinn goes “back to school” at the Panthers training camp next week, he wanted to make sure a special group of kids were ready to go back to school next month as well.
Chinn partnered with Charlotte Family Housing and UnitedHealthcare Insurance to host a back to school event Wednesday night, giving nearly 100 kids a backpack full of school supplies so they’re ready for the first day of class at the end of August.
“It’s huge. I know one thing, for me growing up, having school supplies and having something as simple as pencils and notebooks, it really makes you excited to go to school, excited to go to class,” Chinn said. “Because you feel prepared.”
Chinn’s foundation specifically aims to serve the homeless population of Charlotte, an issue he says affected him and his family when he was a child. So it was only natural that he would partner with Charlotte Family Housing, a group dedicated to helping families make the transition from homeless to housed.
CFH executive director Elizabeth Kurtz says they handed out six SUV loads worth of supplies to kids from 50 different families.
“We came up with this event to take that burden off of them, and make sure that our kids have all the supplies that they need to be successful for the upcoming school year,” Kurtz said.
She says the average family spends nearly $600 on school supplies each year. For families coming from various economic hardships, events like this go a long way.
“It gives me a relief, a sigh of relief, just to know that they’re going to have a great start,” mother-of-four Tabetha Goforth said.
Chinn helped hand out dozens of folders and notebooks at Wednesday night’s event, but he says it was equally as important for these kids to see somebody as big as an NFL star show up, and show he cares.
“To see me, to see a football player and just know that somebody cares,” Chinn said. “I love being that example, I love being here… providing any type of hope or whatever it may be.”
This is the first year that Chinn’s foundation has partnered with CFH and UnitedHealthcare, and Kurtz says they’re already working on the plans to expand this event for next year to help even more families in need.
Copyright 2023 WBTV. All rights reserved.
