Community Partners Donate Nearly 4.500 Items to Tampa Bay Area Kids in Need for Super Kids-Super Sharing

TAMPA, FL – Community partners teamed up with the National Football League, Tampa Bay Super Bowl LV Host Committee and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a Super Bowl project that put thousands of books, pieces of sports equipment, school supplies and games in the hands of local children. The project, called Super Kids-Super Sharing, has been implemented in every Super Bowl host community for the past 22 years.

More than 30 Super Kids partner locations hosted collections at their facilities during the month of December. Donated items were then shared with the children they serve and with Boys & Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay. Participating in this effort were the YMCAs of Tampa Bay, Replay Tampa Bay, Hillsborough Education Foundation, Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation, City of Tampa Parks and Recreation, Keep Tampa Bay Beautiful and six Diocese of St. Petersburg schools. Together they collected and distributed nearly 4,500 items to local children.

“Community partners stepped forward to make Super Kids happen this year in the middle of a pandemic,” said Susan Groh, Associate Director of NFL Green. “They kept the collection and distribution of items local and were able to safely reach many children in need.”

Longtime NFL Green partner Verizon has supported the Super Kids initiative for the past eight years by providing grants to organizations that work with children in the Super Bowl host community. This year’s grants included $25,000 to Hillsborough Education Foundation to support innovative school and classroom enrichment opportunities for students and teachers throughout the district, including a STEM camp and robotics program where young ladies in middle and high school could build and test underwater robots. A $20,000 grant was also awarded to the Florida Aquarium to support education and conservation initiatives.

Since its inception in 2000 at Super Bowl XXXIV in Atlanta, the Super Kids-Super Sharing project has placed hundreds of thousands of books, school supplies, and sports equipment into the hands of children in Super Bowl host communities.

The Super Kids–Super Sharing project is part of NFL Green. It encourages children and families to repurpose items they no longer need and pass them along to others who can benefit. The program also promotes NFL PLAY 60, the league's youth health and wellness campaign, by sharing sports equipment among children in the community.