ABOUT THE WITHIN REACH FOUNDATION
A standout athlete at St. Mary's Prepatory in his home state of Michgan and at college at Penn State, Allen Robinson sometimes struggled to keep up with his academics with a hectic practice and game schedule. But his education was important to him, so he buckled down and used every resource available to him to achieve academically as well as on the football field.
Knowing how much of a hurdle academics were to Allen inspired him to pursue giving back to kids who struggled to keep their grades up like he did. When he signed on with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2014, he vowed to make a difference in his local community by using his status as a professional athlete to encourage low-income children to do better in school. His spirit and enthusiasm for putting success within reach for kids was solidified with the help of Florence, KY based Prolanthropy, who helped him officially launch his Within Reach Foundation.
In a regular season game in September 2017, Allen suffered an ACL injury that left him sidelined the rest of the season and in need of reconstructive knee surgery
. It was devastating, both for his professional life and for him personally. But he chose to deal with the setback by focusing his efforts on his charitable foundation. By October, he was busy recruiting his teammates to help him raise more than $80,000 for the cause of children's academics.
In December, he played Santa Claus to 40 kids whose parents couldn't afford Christmas presents and partnered with an area sporting goods store to give them the kind of happy holiday they deserved. Despite being on crutches, Allen hobbled through the store, offering the kids help picking out new bicycles and trying on their brand new gym shoes.
Robinson
vowed to continue committing to his charitable efforts once he
signed on with the Chicago Bears
in March 2018. His first fundraiser, An Evening Within Reach, is set for December 10th.
