Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts has truly adopted the City of Brotherly Love as his new home and has been re-investing some of his hard-earned NFL money into his community.
According to ABC, Hurts recently donated $200,000 to 10 Philadelphia-area public schools to put towards the installation of new air conditioners.
Appearing on Good Morning America, superintendent Dr. Tony B. Watlington Sr. said that the donation will add 300 air conditioners and impact upwards of 5,000 school children. Watlington explained that most schools lack proper air-conditioning when the temperatures get really hot, leading to schools often sending kids home early for safety reasons.
“More than half of our schools lack appropriate air-conditioning such that when the temperature climbs higher than 86 to 90 degrees, we too often have to let our kids go home early,” Watlington said. “And that really impacts student achievement.”
At a recent public appearance, Hurts reflected on his own issues at school and spoke about what it meant to serve the Philadelphia school community.
“I think back to my time as a student not being able to imagine some of the things that you guys have to go through,” Hurts said, via ABC. “I just want to serve you guys and help in any way I can.”
According to the Government Accountability Office via ABC, 41-percent of school districts “need to update or replace heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) systems” – which comes out to around 36,000 schools needing critical updates.
This is a good start and hopefully one that goes towards addressing the larger problem.