"At one point during D.J. Williams’ professional career, his mother walked into his closet, took a look at all the new, unused clothes hanging there and shook her head," according to Christy Cabrera Chirinos of the Sun Sentinel. The vast amount of clothing accumulated was clearly more than any one person could ever use, so she took some of the clothes and donated them to charity. This was the birth of Home Team Closet, an organization that collects gently used clothing from athletes and donates them to those in need. The program has been a tremendous success so far, with several major NFL stars leading the way. “I want the current players to know that giving back is important,” Williams- NFL LB and CEO of Dymelyfe Clothing said. “Nobody here made it by themselves. Giving back is important to the community. Kind of build a family atmosphere. NFL stars and former Miami Hurricanes greats Jonathan Vilma and Antrel Rolle are working along with DJ Williams to grow Home Team Closet to being in every professional sports team locker rooms. Here's how Home Team Closet works:
Home Team Closet places a bin in the locker room.
Players, coaches and team can donate items as they see fit or if a player has too many items to bring in, Home Team Closet will pick up items from their residence.
All clothing items are welcome; shoes, shirts, hats, workout gear, business suits, coats, school supplies, & more.
"I did my first event about (5 months ago) with Brandon Marshall and Tim Jennings. Between three players, we had over 500 items. There are 63 guys on a football team so imagine if I can get everyone on my team doing it. We picked out 15 underprivileged kids between the ages of 14 and 19 and basically spent the day with them. I had another event just a few weeks ago in the Miami area again- We went out, had lunch, talked, and then we set the venue up like a closet, had them pull numbers out of a hat, and let them shop out of our “closet,” DJ Williams.
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