DE Justin Tuck participated in a one-hour live Twitter chat on Wednesday hosted by the 50 Fund and the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee at their offices in San Francisco.
The 50 Fund, the legacy fund of Super Bowl 50 and the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee, was unveiled yesterday on "Giving Tuesday," with the committee deciding on a virtual launch to support the entirety of the Bay Area.
"We wanted to make sure we had representation from both of the clubs and we really wanted someone who was a true philanthropist and Justin Tuck came right to the top of our mind," said Stephanie Martin, Vice President of Communications for the host committee. "It's fantastic to have him here today in our offices and be able to share a little bit about why giving back to the community is so important to him."
One of the main goals of Super Bowl 50 is to be the most giving Super Bowl in history, and Martin thinks that the 50 Fund is crucial to making that goal a reality.
"It's always been about how we use the Super Bowl as a way to raise up the Bay Area and lift up our communities," Martin said. "We're giving 25 percent of all the funds we raise back to the community through our non-profit, the 50 Fund."
Jason Trimiew, VP of Community Relations for the host committee, believes that Super Bowl 50 has the chance to bring a lot of positive impact to communities in need throughout the Bay Area. "Our message for the Bay Area community is that Super Bowl 50 is going to leave a legacy of impact," Trimiew said. "The way we're going to do that through the 50 Fund is to make sure that non-profit organizations that are doing fantastic work supporting youth in the communities and supporting the local environment receive resources from the Super Bowl being here so that they can continue their good work and amplify it and take it to a new level."
The Twitter chat was the 50 Fund's introduction and Tuck, along with Anquan Boldin of the San Francisco 49ers, fielded questions from fans about their community work.
The All-Pro defensive end has long been committed to philanthropic work, and in 2008, he and his wife Lauran founded Tuck's R.U.S.H. for Literacy, a foundation focused on literacy for low-income youth in New York, New Jersey, Alabama and the Bay Area.
"I always have been very passionate about philanthropy and giving back and just trying our best to have an impact in the communities that did so much for me," Tuck said. "Obviously the Bay Area is important to me, and I feel as though this campaign is going to be very great, considering the platform that is the Super Bowl.
"So many people get involved in it, I think this campaign is going to do a lot of great work in a lot of communities that desperately need it."
In addition to participating in the chat and engaging with fans on social media, Tuck used the afternoon at the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee headquarters as a learning experience.
"Just getting to work with the people behind [The 50 Fund], it's fascinating to talk with them and learn from them and use some of the things that they're doing to take back to R.U.S.H. to improve what we're doing over there," he said.
