For The Greater Good: Maryland Football Continues To Emphasize Community Work

That same week, another 10 guys headed to Arundel Elementary School in Baltimore for a Halloween party through the Dream Big Foundation, an organization that utilizes a placed-based approach to co-develop, resource, and deliver a high-quality continuum of educational services, which enable young people to choose with dignity their own path toward success.

Senior linebacker Gereme Spraggins and a few other members of the football team did an internship with Dream Big over the summer and were able to bring a bunch of the kids into the Jones-Hill House facility to host a field day for them. Over the bye week, they revisited their connection with the Baltimore youth. 

“The biggest thing is helping out in the community, but I think it also made us feel really good just to see how excited the kids were and how big their smiles were,” Spraggins said of the day. “For them, it was kinda like Christmas morning when you come downstairs and see presents under the tree.”

The guys put on a Halloween party with candy-filled goody bags and Spraggins took it a step further by bringing some of his old football gloves to dispense. Though they may have been a few sizes too big, the kids couldn’t care less—it’s the thought that made their day. 

Spraggins is originally from Baltimore and went to Arundel High School, so the event held an even greater significance for him.

“It means a lot for me to show my community that I’m still putting on for where I’m from and that I’m doing a lot for myself, the community and my last name,” Spraggins said. “A lot of these kids come from an underprivileged background and a lot of us (players) did too. We just wanted to show them that if we can do it, they can do it too.”