Projects
Humboldt Park Patriots
From The Humboldt Park Patriots Youth Football Team:
“We strive to remain accessible to young athletes on Chicago’s West Side. As part of our mission, we do everything in our power to keep costs low for our players to ensure price is not a barrier for anyone in the area that wants to learn to play football. After the pandemic that affected us all, our organization was facing reduced registrations and a need for new equipment. Through an act of extreme generosity and kindness, the Austin Ekeler Foundation funded our equipment needs and then some! Our young athletes took the field with new Riddell helmets, shoulder pads, jerseys and even got to hit some brand new tackling dummies. I don’t know where our organization would be today without the kindness of Mr. Ekeler and his team of mission driven individuals. We are forever grateful as this donation has helped us seize an opportunity to grow our team.”
Inglewood High School
Austin Ekeler Foundation teamed up with the Chargers to provide new helmets, cleats, and gloves to the Inglewood HS football team. The Chargers home, SoFi stadium, is located in Inglewood, CA, so it was great to meet some of the kids in our area as they were hosted at the Chargers training camp. Read more HERE!
Olive Crest
Austin Ekeler Foundation provided custom water bottles to Olive Crest to help keep kids healthy and hydrated. An update from our partners at Olive Crest:
“60 Olive Crest youth participated in a free football camp. Majority of the youth have never played football before and were learning for the first time. Each youth received a Austin Ekeler Foundation water bottle that kept the kids hydrated throughout the three hour camp.”
Long Beach Poly High School Weight Room
Our Long Beach Poly High School weight room renovation is complete!
With donations from Jurrell Casey’s The Casey Fund, JuJu Smith-Schuster’s The JuJu Foundation, the Los Angeles Chargers, Sonos, and Perform Better, we had an outstanding turnout at a ribbon-cutting ceremony and dedication including students, faculty, and media. The gym includes brand new state-of-the-art equipment, sound systems and flooring.
The weight room is used each year by over 1,700 student athletes across 30 sports and over 70 teams, as well as all 9th and 10th grade PE classes.
Supporters can contribute to our projects at www.austinekeler.com/donate or through merch sales at shop.austinekeler.com.
Long Beach Poly High School
We are beyond thrilled to announce our next project… the funding of a cutting-edge new weight room for Long Beach Poly High School. Long Beach Poly has been part of the community since 1895 as the city and school district’s Flagship school. Despite being used by over 1,700 student athletes across 30 sports and over 70 teams, underclassmen PE classes, and upperclassmen elective classes, the weight room has remained unchanged since the 1990s. With donations from The Casey Fund, The JuJu Foundation, Los Angeles Chargers, SONOS, & Perform Better, the project is set to be completed Summer 2023 and will benefit students for years to come.
Olive Crest, Los Angeles
Olive Crest targets the critical needs of children and families living in some of Los Angeles’ most under-resourced communities. Programs work together to prevent abuse and neglect, creating systemic community change that break generational cycles of dysfunction, abuse and neglect. Our mission is to help strengthen, equip, and restore children and families in crisis. Every year we provide over 500 backpacks with school supplies for children and families. As important as the backpacks are, we have families that struggle with essential clothing needs. When going back to school these families don’t have the means to buy new clothing. Through the Austin Ekeler Foundation we were able to target our families with the greatest need for new t-shirts and sweatshirts to have for the new school year. While the youth were receiving the new clothing items, you could see the joy in their eyes to have something personally given to them by a professional athlete. Our staff, volunteers, and families are so grateful to have been selected to receive this donation.
West Sacramento Football Camp
The Austin Ekeler Foundation came out to a youth football camp in West Sacramento, CA sponsored and hosted by Invictus Youth Foundation & West Sacramento Police Department. Austin gave the students words of advice, specifically how to “Be The Best You” and coached various drills for hundreds of children.
SoCal Elementary Schools
The Austin Ekeler Foundation purchased the Amazon Wishlists for multiple Southern California elementary school teachers. The donations included over $2,500 in flexible seating, color printers, books, writing materials, and art supplies.
Santee School District press release: https://www.santeesd.net/cms/One.aspx?portalId=27050397&pageId=36283599
Downtown Women’s Center (Los Angeles)
The Downtown Women’s Center (DWC) is the only organization in Los Angeles focused exclusively on serving and empowering women experiencing homelessness and formerly homeless women. DWC’s mission is to end homelessness for women in greater Los Angeles through housing, wellness, employment, and advocacy. Austin Ekeler donated 200 Adidas bags for DWC’s holiday gifting program. Those bags were distributed on Christmas Day to women who are currently experiencing homelessness. The bags were stuffed with essential items like socks, underwear, wet wipes and rain jackets. The women were delighted to receive these gifts for the holiday season.
Watts Schools
The Austin Ekeler Foundation teamed up with local nonprofit Think Watts Foundation and environmentally-friendly household supplies company ECOS to provide washers, dryers, and laundry detergent to 5 different schools in the Watts area of Los Angeles. Lack of access to clean clothing is a top reason why students skip school in Watts. This donation will help kids feel comfortable in their clothes and focus on their coursework, friends, and mental health rather than their appearance.
Santa Barbara High School
The Austin Ekeler Foundation, with donations from The Hutton Parker Foundation, Sonos, and Perform Better, unveiled a brand new weight room complete with state-of-the-art equipment, sound systems and flooring to the students of Santa Barbara High School.
The gym is the first project of its kind from the Austin Ekeler Foundation, which Austin launched during the 2020 NFL season. The Foundation’s mission is to implement reusable resources that can provide an opportunity for people to better themselves. With the Santa Barbara High School gym, the Foundation, Perform Better and Sonos will create a reusable resource that can be enjoyed by a large number of young people for years to come. Established in 1875, Santa Barbara High School (SBHS) is one of the oldest high schools in California. A designated Title I school with a diverse student body, SBHS has approximately 2,200 students with more than 50% involved in sanctioned school sports or physical education programs. In conjunction with the new gym, SBHS, Santa Barbara’s only school with a career path in athletic training, plans additional focus on wellness, fitness, nutrition and life skills related to gym use and weight lifting techniques. “I know how important it is to have opportunities to better yourself available to students,” said Ekeler. “I’m excited to provide thousands of students with the chance to improve their wellness, fitness and nutrition so they can set themselves up to reach their goals. I can’t wait to unveil the new gym in a few months and I’m so thankful for everyone who’s come together to help make this happen!” The new gym is available to all students – athletes and non-athletes – looking to increase their fitness.
“We are grateful that the Austin Ekeler Foundation, Hutton Parker Foundation, Sonos, and Perform Better chose Santa Barbara High School for this amazing gift,” said SBHS Principal Elise Simmons. “Having a state-of-the-art gym for all of our students to use is wonderful. I know that our students will benefit greatly from this gift for many years. Not only will it be a place for students to gain physical strength, but it will also be a space for students to gain knowledge about nutrition, fitness, and overall health.”