During the next two weeks of Sunday football, fans have a reason to take their eyes off the ball — and look at the players’ feet instead. 

This Thanksgiving, the NFL’s annual My Cause My Cleats initiative begins. It allows players to shine the spotlight on mission-driven organizations and issues they are passionate about by wearing custom-designed cleats representing their chosen cause. 

Three players have chosen Stand Together and partners from the Stand Together community as organizations to highlight: Demario Davis, linebacker for the New Orleans Saints; Miles Killebrew, safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers; and Rachaad White, running back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. 

Davis will debut his cleats during a home game on Sunday, Dec 1. Killebrew and White will do the same during games the following Sunday, Dec. 8. It’s not the first time NFL players have supported a Stand Together partner organization. 

These athletes are shining a crucial spotlight on organizations doing life-changing work. Each one has lived experiences with the causes they’re supporting. From juvenile justice to education to the foster care system, they’re telling meaningful stories when they hit the field this season — and showing how important it is to support and advocate for organizations working at the frontlines of our most pressing issues. 

Davis wants students to excel in and outside the classroom with Stand Together

Before he was a linebacker for the New Orleans Saints, Davis was a substitute teacher. 

“People describe me on the field as being ferocious,” he said. “I play with a ton of energy. But, if you were really to come behind the pads and the helmet and see me as a person, I’ve always had a heart for transforming education.”

Both Davis and his wife, Tamela, were educators. They saw firsthand what changes needed to happen to make the education system more empowering for all types of learners.

“The traditional model is one-size-fits-all,” Davis said. “[But] you have to think about the uniqueness of the different types of students.”

Davis and his wife started Devoted Dreamers Academy to create an environment where they could meet students’ unique needs and learning styles — but they knew that in order to scale this effort to more students, they needed to find a way to make a bigger impact. When they partnered with Stand Together, they met a community of other educational entrepreneurs who were also working on individualized learning solutions. 

Through My Cause My Cleats, the Davis family hopes to shed light on the many educators and innovators currently working to transform education for all. By investing in and supporting this network of educational entrepreneurs, Stand Together and other organizations are helping make individualized learning a reality for every student, no matter where they are.

“That’s what’s been beautiful about partnering with Stand Together,” Davis said. “[It has] done a wonderful job of identifying changemakers like ourselves who are working all throughout the country, who are unlocking kids’ potential. It’s about the wave of change taking place in the educational space.” 

It doesn’t matter if you read Davis’ right or left cleat first — but make sure you pay attention to the messages on each. On the left foot: “Kids aren’t standardized.” On the right: “Make learning personal.” 

Moving forward, “[We want to] help kids maximize themselves,” Davis said. “Being able to maximize yourself is going to make us a better society.” 

Killebrew helps youth play with fire and knives — for good — with Café Momentum

Killebrew is supporting Café Momentum as his My Cause My Cleats organization. It’s not the first time the Steelers have partnered with Café Momentum, which offers paid internships at an upscale 5-star restaurant to youth leaving the juvenile justice system. The Steelers have been vocal advocates for the restaurant since it opened a location in their hometown.

“As a Steeler, we’ve taken a lot of pride in being interwoven into the community,” Killebrew said. “ These kids are much more than their time in a detention center. Wasted potential is one of the saddest tragedies, and I’ll do everything in my power to make sure it doesn’t exist in this city.”

It’s a cause close to Killebrew’s heart. He recognized that he could easily have been one of the young people who ended up in the juvenile justice system himself. “I remember when my dad took me to visit one of my uncles in prison,” he said. “I see now how important it was for my dad to get me out of that. That was him believing that I was worth getting out of that environment. It started with my father for me, and I want to be that for these kids.”

“It is important for them to have somebody that believes in them,” he said. “They need a team just like anybody else. … When I wear these cleats, I am looking to empower those around me.”

White is mobilizing an army of community volunteers with CarePortal

“How do I define true strength?” said White, the Buccaneers running back. “Belief. If you don’t believe in yourself, nobody else will. Everybody has an impact on someone’s life. Everybody can be the hero of someone’s life.”

White knows this well. For My Cause My Cleats, he is partnering with an organization that believes it too: CarePortal, an app that connects families in crisis to community members who can offer immediate assistance, helping many avoid the foster care system. 

White’s family was basically a pre-phone version of CarePortal when he was growing up. While he saw many friends move in and out of foster care, White’s mother stepped in to provide whatever they needed to keep them from going back. 

“My mom was the neighborhood mom,” White said. “My mom would feed them, and she would just do a lot for the kids in the neighborhood.”

By amplifying the work of CarePortal this season, White hopes to encourage others to get involved and meet specific needs in their communities. 

“What drew me to CarePortal’s work and choosing this organization for My Cause My Cleats is keeping families in crisis together,” White said. “And that’s what you need. You need togetherness in this world.”

CarePortal’s model has helped around 400,000 families across more than 35 states thus far — and White wants his cleats to help make that number even bigger. 

“Now you’re creating a community which is making the world a better place,” he said. “Everybody can be somebody’s hero in this world and in this life.”

While the organizations being highlighted on the football turf over the coming weeks are working hard to create change, they all rely on the same key ingredients: the belief in individuals’ unlimited potential and the support of local communities. Anyone can volunteer their time, efforts, and voice to help each of these groups have an even bigger impact.

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The Stand Together community partners with changemakers who are tackling the root causes of America’s biggest problems. 

Learn more about Stand Together’s top issue areas and explore ways you can partner with us.