HOUSTON – The Houston Texans and Texas Children's Hospital were proud to award $50,000 in PLAY 60 grants to six local schools at the Sunday, October 2 Kids Day game. All schools were honored in an on-field check presentation with Jamey Rootes, president of the Texans, and Mark Mullarkey, executive vice president of Texas Children's Hospital. PLAY 60 is the National Football League's campaign to encourage kids to be active for 60 minutes a day in order to help reverse the trend of childhood obesity. Nearly 80 local schools applied for the grants, which are worth up to $10,000, to help purchase the equipment they need to get kids moving throughout the school day and in after-school programs. Five of the schools selected for grants are Title I and all have demonstrated a commitment to getting kids active and on the path to developing healthy habits that will last a lifetime. In the four years of the program, the Texans have awarded $170,000 in PLAY 60 grants to local schools for PLAY 60 projects.
2016 grants were awarded to:
• Southmore Intermediate (Pasadena ISD): Awarded $9,000 for equipment for physical education, athletics, and after-school programs. Equipment will help expand the options of sports available to their 819 students to include archery, lacrosse, indoor hockey, and badminton and allow them to update equipment for football, basketball, and soccer.
• Cornerstone Academy & Academy of Choice (Spring Branch ISD): These two schools, which share a campus, were awarded a $6,000 grant to add equipment such as training hurdles, agility ladders, balance trainers, exercise stations, medicine balls, and team sport equipment to serve their diverse student body of 552 students.
• J.C. Mitchell Elementary School (HISD): Awarded $10,000 to strengthen physical education classes for their 545 students with much needed basic equipment, including soccer balls, basketballs, volleyballs, and playground equipment such as jump ropes, hula hoops, bean bags, and kick balls.
• Attucks Middle School (HISD): Awarded $10,000 to enhance physical education classes for 500 students. This grant will enable them to expand their current sport offerings to include three more competitive sports: baseball, golf, and swimming, as well as replace worn equipment for football, volleyball and basketball.
• Westbury High School (HISD): Awarded $10,000 to improve athletic safety and parity for 2,221 students.
• Blackshear Elementary (HISD): Awarded $5,000 to purchase basic equipment for youth soccer, flag football, cheerleading, basketball, and the playground to create an after-school program for 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders.
