Champions to Philadelphia students

Whe campers sitting on the Christian Street YMCA gymnasium floor aren’t making a sound. There are no basketballs bouncing or campers arguing about who gets the ball.

On this hot August morning, all eyes glued on "Storybook Man," real name Ray Saraceni – standing at center court reading The True Story of the Three Little Pigs. Storybook Man, whose mode of transportation is the 24-foot- long Eagles Book Mobile, captivates his young audience with his voices of the Big Bad Wolf and the Three Little Pigs.

The highlight of the day comes after the storytelling when every child gets to pick from a table full of paperbacks, including the classic Charlotte’s Webb, to take home courtesy of the Eagles Youth Partnership. The organization was founded in 1995 as a 501(c)(3) public charity and serves over 50,000 low-income children in the Greater Philadelphia region every year, with a focus on healthy and educational programming.

Immediately, the kids walk up to Eagles Youth Partnership Executive Director Sarah Martinez-Helfman, expressing excitement over their selection. Instead of waiting to get home, several of the children immediately opened their books and start reading.

"I think the most amazing thing is how excited they were to pick their own books," Martinez-Helfman said. "It didn’t take any convincing."

The Eagles Book Mobile travels to hundreds of Philadelphia area schools, recreation centers and summer camps each year. Recent stops have included the Fels South Philadelphia Community Center, 2407 S. Broad Street, Bok Summer Camp, Eight and Mifflin streets, and the Vare Summer Camp, 26th and Moore streets.

Since its inception five years ago, the Eagles Book Mobile program has distributed over 210,000 multicultural books to underserved children in the Greater Philadelphia Region. It helps many of the Philadelphia Eagles, who the kids look up to and admire, enjoy reading.

THE EYP PROGRAMS are funded every year through the Eagles Carnival and Auction, which was held Sunday at Lincoln Financial Field. Proceeds from the event will help approximately 50,000 kids a year to see and to read through the EYP’s Book Mobile and Eye Mobile, which provides students with free eye screenings and prescription glasses, programs. Martinez-Helfman said the organization exceeded this year’s target of a $1 million.

"It was an ambitious target that we exceeded and we are thrilled about it," she said.

The EYP was nationally honored in March as the first recipient of the Steve Patterson Sports Philanthropy Award, given by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Sports Philanthropy Project to a sports team or athlete foundation whose work is devoted to improving the live of others, especially the most vulnerable. The Eagles Eye Mobile program led to the recognition.

With the school year starting next week, many South Philadelphia kids will once again benefit from the free eye screenings and prescription glasses.

Martinez-Helfman recalled how last year, a seventh grader from George Sharswood Elementary, Second and Wolf streets, was on a fourth grade reading level before the eye exam. A week after receiving the free pair of prescription glasses the student tested on a seventh grade reading level.

"When his eyes are open, those glasses are always on his face," Martinez-Helfman said of the seventh grader.

Since the inception of the Eagles Eye Mobile in 1996, the EYP has examined over 10,000 children in the Philadelphia and Chester-Upland school districts, with the majority of the students needing and receiving free prescription glasses. Once the school year starts, school nurses will be giving eye-chart exams to determine what South Philadelphia schools to visit.

The Eagles also made a lasting impact on the community in 1998 by building Eagles Unity Playground in Mifflin Square Park, 500 block of Wolf and Ritner streets. Students from Furness High School, Third and Mifflin streets, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, 2329 S. Third Street, Taggart Elementary School, Fourth and Porter street, Key Elementary, Eight and Wolf streets, and Sharswood team up with the Eagles players and staff to build the playground. The costs of the project were covered by a $75,000 grant from the EYP.

Some South Philadelphia students could soon find themselves taking a new liking to the game of chess, as Martinez-Helfman said EYP is working with School District of Philadelphia CEO Paul Vallas to develop chess clubs at schools, helping students with their critical and strategic thinking skills.

"In chess, you learn to think several steps ahead and think about the consequences of the moves you make," she said.

In May, 800-plus Philadelphia students spent the day at Lincoln Financial Field competing in the second annual Eagles Chess Tournament.

"What we are trying to do is use the leverage of the Eagles to bring resources and opportunities to the kids and help them be more successful in their lives," Martinez-Helfman said.