A Commitment for Change benefits Baltimore youth
By Keith Henry

The Ed Block Courage Award Foundation partnered with Keion Carpenter’s foundation, The Carpenter House and former Poly standout Antonio Freeman for the kickoff event of the “Commitment 4 Change” football camp which was held this past week on the campus of Towson University.

The kickoff event itself this past Saturday featured an All-Star vs. Your Star Celebrity flag football game at Baltimore Polytechnic Institute. Among the players making appearances were former Dunbar player Tommy Polley, Former Raven Ed Hartwell, and current Tennessee Titans Alge Crumpler, Vinney Fuller and Erik King.

Events like this were valuable to athletes like King, who said, “It’s extremely important because I was one of these kids that were watching the other guys that went to college and the league. I said to myself that I want to be in their shoes. So I watched what they did and picked their brain and it helped me get to the point where I’m at right now.”

The All-Stars crushed Your Stars 8-2 but more importantly, the kids will benefit from this activity in more ways than one. Carpenter said about these activities, “Anything that we can do from the Carpenter’s House, for my kids, my two organizations to take their minds off of the regular difficulties that they deal with during the day to day things. That’s why we’re here and that’s why we’re doing what we want to do. It’s a blessing to be able to give back. That’s what I want to do.”

Activities like this for the kids help them to stay out of trouble and at the same time, get a closer look at the NFL players in the flesh.

These players wanted to set a shining example for the youth. Reggie White said, “Whether you know it or not, kids look up to you and they watch your every move. When you start doing positive stuff and community stuff and things that they see that are positive in the community, they look up to you. It might change one. It might change a lot. But if we get one, that’s all we want. Change one at a time and make this place a better place.”

The Titans’ Alge Crumpler shared a similar thought saying, “Just the experiences that we’ve gone through and a lot of the youth want to know what we’ve done, what pitfalls we’ve had to get to where we are now. I relay that message and make sure that whatever question they may have, I’m here to answer it.”

Teaming with the Ed Block Courage Foundation proved to be a real bright spot according to Carpenter. Carpenter said, “That prestigious organization done helped a whole lot of people. They’ve been around for a long, long time. The fact that they are in our backyard here in Baltimore, Maryland. It’s a perfect fit. Anything that I can always do to support them, I’ll always do that.”

The athletes take these types of opportunities to relay a positive message to the youth. Polley said, “Dream big. Anything you dream, you can accomplish it out here. There are proven examples. Especially the people in our community. In Baltimore City, there only have been certain aspects of life, but you can make it. You have Reggie Williams, Antonio Freeman and Keon Carpenter. We have a lot of guys who made it out and they did it the right way and still continue to do it the right way.”

Fuller’s advice was, “The best thing is it’s about choices and decisions. You’re faced with choices in life. Making good decisions, it puts you in better positions. When you make bad decisions, that’s when you have to try and come back from those decisions. You always want to put God first and when you’re faced with different options, try to make the best decisions possible.”

Carpenter simply stated, “I show up and I tell them, ‘Hey, I come from the same environment that you guys come from and I made it. You can too. I will give you any resource that you can to be able to make it. By me just showing up and being here, and for these kids to be able to touch me and talk to me every day gives them that hope.”