This Sunday, more than 50 players and staff from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are participating in the NFL's My Cause My Cleats campaign, a league-wide initiative that offers teams the opportunity to promote charitable causes that are important to them through creative cleat designs. Buccaneers players and staff will showcase a wide variety of colors and designs supporting nearly 50 different charitable organizations when Tampa Bay travels to Atlanta to play the Falcons this Sunday, December 5 at 1:00 p.m.
This week, Buccaneers players will begin sharing images and the stories behind their custom designs using the hashtag #MyCauseMyCleats. Fans may visit the team's website at Buccaneers.com/MyCauseMyCleats for exclusive My Cause My Cleats images and videos, with new content being added leading up to Sunday's game. To help produce this year's cleats, the Buccaneers worked with Stadium Custom Kicks, sean the don and Grand Theming Studios.
Among the more than 50 Buccaneers participating is tackle Tristan Wirfs, who collaborated with a single-parent family at Metropolitan Ministries to design his cleats. The non-profit organization offers comprehensive services for at-risk and homeless families in underserved and impoverished communities, inspiring hope in Tampa Bay. Linebacker Lavonte David will encourage youth mentorship by supporting Big Brothers Big Sisters, for which he serves as a national ambassador. Wide receiver Chris Godwin will promote the Team Godwin Foundation, launched with his wife, Mariah, to advocate for animal welfare and rescue. Cornerback Carlton Davis, a member of the team's Social Justice Player Board who has lost friends to gun violence, will wear cleats supporting Safe & Sound Hillsborough to encourage community work that develops strong families, safe schools and healthy neighborhoods. Defensive tackle Vita Vea is supporting Moffitt Cancer Center and the fight against breast cancer, which has directly impacted his family. Center Ryan Jensen, the team's nominee for the NFL Salute to Service Award presented by USAA, will support Southeastern Guide Dogs, an organization Jensen has worked with to provide service dogs for military veterans. And quarterback Tom Brady will wear cleats to promote the Player's Coalition, the TB12 Foundation and the Navy Seal Foundation.
On Sunday, Head Coach Bruce Arians will be wearing specially-designed sneakers to raise awareness for CASA/Guardian ad Litem, a focus of the Arians Family Foundation's mission to advocate for abused, neglected or abandoned children. Also supporting a cause they are passionate about are Owner/Co-Chairman Joel Glazer, General Manager Jason Licht, Vice President of Player Personnel John Spytek, Director of Football Operations Shelton Quarles, Vice President of Football Administration Mike Greenberg, Director of College Scouting Mike Biehl, Director of Pro Scouting Rob McCartney, and Outside Linebackers Coach Larry Foote, who will be sporting sneakers in support of the National CMV Foundation. Spytek co-founded the National CMV Foundation with his wife, Kristen, in honor of their daughter, Evelyn Grace, who passed away from CMV in 2014. Offensive linemen Ali Marpet and Alex Cappa will also be wearing cleats to pay tribute to Evelyn Grace and the work of the National CMV Foundation. In addition, Assistant Defensive Line Coach Lori Locust will promote YMCA BASE, a program that provides guidance and support for children before and after school.
This is the sixth consecutive season that NFL players are raising awareness for non-profit organizations and causes on the field through the campaign, with more than 1,000 players throughout the league annually participating. My Cause My Cleats will be celebrated around the NFL during all Week 13 games.
Players have the option to raise funds for their cause of choice through auctioning their cleats on NFL Auction where 100% of funds raised will be donated to the charities they select. Fans may bid on player cleats at NFL.com/Auction and help raise funds for the causes nearest to their hearts. To learn more about causes and stories throughout the NFL, visit www.nfl.com/mycausemycleats.