Baltimore Ravens donate $200,000 to improve heating and air conditioning at elementary school

The NFL’s Baltimore Ravens on Monday donated roughly $200,000 to the city’s public school system to upgrade the heating and air-conditioning units at a local elementary school. 

The donation for Lakewood Elementary School was the first funding contributed from Ravens players as part of the NFL’s social justice program, The Baltimore Sun reported.

{mosads}Lakewood Elementary’s enrollment consists of 40 percent special-needs students and 65 percent who qualify for free and reduced meals.

The new heating and air conditioning units will be operable in January, the newspaper noted.

The social justice program was established as a result of an $89 million deal between the Players Coalition and the NFL. Each team has pledged to match player contributions up to $250,000 each year, with the funds to be used toward community and social justice efforts. 

“As professional football players, we understand the importance of being leaders in a community that proudly supports us,” Ravens long snapper Morgan Cox said in a statement. “There have been times where these children have had to go to school in the summer and winter months without reliable air-conditioning or heating, and we see this as a great opportunity to provide them with the optimal learning environment that they deserve.”

“We want to be remembered as leaving the city better than we found it.” –@morgancox46 pic.twitter.com/8G1UDyzMtR

— Baltimore Ravens (@Ravens) December 3, 2018

Other teams such as the Chicago Bears and Tampa Bay Buccaneers have also begun distributing money they have raised through the social justice fund.

The Philadelphia Eagles used their fund to bail nine people out of jail the day before Thanksgiving and hosted a service fair to link the bailees with community nonprofits to help them move forward with life and job placement.