NFL teams
Nick Wagoner, ESPN Staff Writer 9y

5 Rams players to hand out goods

NFL, Los Angeles Rams

EARTH CITY, Mo. -- The five St. Louis Rams players who did the "hands up, don't shoot" gesture in support of the nearby Ferguson community and promptly vowed to help out when things settled down are making good on that promise.

Rams tight end Jared Cook and receivers Stedman Bailey, Tavon Austin, Chris Givens and Kenny Britt are heading to the Ferguson area Friday to distribute basic need items to residents of Ferguson and North St. Louis County who have been affected by civil unrest in the area.

"It's something that we decided to get together to do to just kind of give back to the people who are kind of having a hard time," Cook said. "There are maybe kids having to miss school or parents that had to miss work due to the events that were going on down there so we decided to come together and do something big for the people of Ferguson."

The five players are the same five who drew attention for doing the "hands up, don't shoot" gesture before the team's Nov. 30 game against the Oakland Raiders.

At the time, Cook and his teammates said the gesture was a show of support for a community in need and that they would head to the Ferguson area to begin helping out in more meaningful ways when things calmed down.

Friday's visit will be the group's first trip to the area since the civil unrest that came following both the Aug. 9 shooting of 18-year old Michael Brown by police officer Darren Wilson and the Nov. 24 decision not to indict Wilson.

The five Rams players purchased more than 200 coats, gloves, hats, socks, toiletries and other necessary goods and will join the St. Louis Urban League to distribute them to what the organization expects to be "several hundred" community members. Members of the Rams staff were seen loading a school bus full of goods Thursday afternoon.

The Rams players also contributed $10,000 for the event.

"It's small but it adds up," Cook said. "It's significant enough to where it may save some parents a few dollars here or there or a few dollars here or there that maybe they could spend a child's toys or maybe they can spend on other things around the house that they may need or they may have missed out on while the events were going on down there."

Bailey said he's never been to Ferguson and isn't exactly sure where it is but is looking forward to getting to visit and chat with members of the community.

"It means a lot," Bailey said. "A lot of times, we are pretty much busy with our schedule here trying to focus on what we have to do week in and week out but Friday we have got a chance to actually go out and actually be hands on when giving back and it's going to be a good feeling for us all."

Although Cook had said after the Raiders game that he had planned to help out when he could, he was reluctant to talk about Friday's trip for fear that the focus would be removed from the real issue.

"I don't want the focus to be taken off of (it)," Cook said. "The attention needs to be where it needs to be. It doesn't need to be on us or the things that we are doing for them or any of that or the reason why we're doing it. It doesn't need to be publicized I feel like. What we give needs to be given, it doesn't really need to be publicized, that's the only reason I really didn't want to talk about it."

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