Monica Tucker accepts the Helping Hands Award from Dewey Academy Principal Hattie Tate on behalf of the Raiders.Photo by Tony Gonzales.
The Oakland Raiders attended the Dewey Academy Career Fair Friday.
Shonda Scott of KDOL, who served as emcee for the event, praised the Raiders for their work in the community. "We love the Raiders here in Oakland," said Scott. "The Raiders are one of the groups that always helps and supports the things we're doing in the community. They're really out there doing a lot of great things all the time."
The Raiders were presented with the Helping Hands Award for their commitment to serving the inner city students. Monica Tucker, a group sales and fundraising representative, accepted the award on the Raiders behalf.
"Over the 10 years of the time that I've been here, there's always been somebody in our community or among our community based partners that goes far and beyond the call to be of service to students in the inner city and Monica has definitely shown that support and dedication," said Dewey Academy Principal Hattie Tate. "She's just always exhibited the kind of service that students in the inner city crave and the attention that they look for that actually becomes a turning point."
The Raiders have worked with Dewey Academy for several years, especially during the 2010 season.
Principal Tate said, "It's really been nice to have the Raiders involved in Dewey Academy for the last year.
"Having Sam [Williams] come this year was really nice. He's a really cool guy, he's real relaxed with the students, and they relate to him easily.
"He's been able to have conversations with students and hear their stories and give them motivating and encouraging words to move on. One of the things that happened was recently we lost a student and he came at a time when he had just lost someone in his life. They had a really meaningful dialogue about how to handle grief and challenges in life. So that support was good for the emotional, social intelligence that we build all of our work on. We believe that if we get students healthy emotionally, and give them healthy social interactions, then we can then help them find success."
The Oakland Raiders are proud to accept the award and look forward to continuing their Commitment to Community.
