CLEVELAND — While the football world continues to descend upon Atlanta for Sunday’s Super Bowl LIII matchup between the New England Patriots and Los Angeles Rams, Cleveland Browns running back Nick Chubb returned to his home state to lend a helping hand.
Along with former Atlanta Falcons standout running back Warrick Dunn, Chubb visited Covenant House, a facility run by former NFL player James Thornton that is dedicated to combatting youth homelessness in Atlanta.
“You always hear about these things, but you never see it, actually walk through it,” Chubb said in the three-minute video tweeted out by the NFL’s official account.
According to Thornton, there are more than 3,300 homeless youth in the Atlanta area.
After meeting with Chubb and Dunn at the facility, Thornton took the dynamic rushers on a tour of the city to spots not found on a sight-seeing map. Instead, Thornton took Chubb and Dunn to “The Bridge to Nowhere,” which is symbolic of lost hope and opportunities.
“This is a corner where they get a lot of drugs, heroin,” Thornton said. “You’ll see a lot of needles and different things. There’s bottles and syringes and all types of pills that you might see, residue on the ground.
“What we’re seeing here is just kind of how it drops off. This is really symbolic to the youth that we serve, and they can end up dropping off and giving up on life, or they can turn around and come back to where there’s support. We really hope they turn back this way.”
On the trip back to the Covenant House facility, Chubb praised Thornton’s efforts for helping fight homelessness.
“It’s definitely eye-opening to me just to actually see it in person and be around it,” Chubb said. “It’s incredible the things y’all do for the youth and helping out.
“We need someone like you guys and the organization that y’all have just to pull guys off the street and show them the right way. I’m just proud to be here right now to learn a lot from you guys and get a better understanding of it, so I can find my way into helping out.”
Following their return to Covenant House, Chubb and Dunn surprised the program with a donation, which will be revealed in tonight’s “Gridiron Giveback” special on NFL Network tonight at 10 p.m.