For Rasheed Walker, Life Is About Playing Football, Giving Back

Green Bay Packers left tackle and former Penn State star Rasheed Walker is looking to give back to the community, starting with a bowling event on Monday.

Green Bay Packers left tackle Rasheed Walker / Mark Hoffman/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

GREEN BAY, Wis. – On Monday, Green Bay Packers left tackle Rasheed Walker will host Bowling For Their Future at Buzz Social in Green Bay. It’ll be a fun night with Walker and some of his teammates, plus food, drinks, bowling, a photo booth and a raffle with signed items.

Walker discussed the event and his nonprofit organization, Youth Is the Future, this week. Click here ticket information.

Thanks, Rasheed. Tell me about the event.

First of all, the event, put it together, ran it through my nonprofit organization, Youth Is the Future. I’m real big on giving back to the community and the youth. I do a bunch of different things in my hometown.

So, I figured it would be pretty cool if I ran an event in Green Bay, doing something cool like bowling where we just bowl in and try to raise funds for nonprofit organizations so we can continue to give back to the youth. Enjoy some fellowship with people of the city, have some of my teammates come out and bowl and have some fun with the community.

What’s the goal of your organization? What are you trying to accomplish with that?

The organization is called Youth Is the Future. We want to provide resources to the youth, things like school supplies, things they need for school, things they need for everyday life, things they need for home like clothing. If kids want to do extracurricular activities, we give them tools they need for that.

Later down the line, we want to provide mentorship for kids. I want to start my own recreational center, so it’s a safe haven for kids and the youth to go and stay on the right path. I grew up in recreational centers and whatnot. I feel like that’s a big reason why I had success in life. So, the organization is really just all about giving back for the youth, really. All season I do a bunch of stuff just to try to give back. The nonprofit is the right way to go about it.

Why is this so important to you?

That’s just my heart. I’ve always been a giving person as far as I can remember. And I understand the value of giving. You have to give to receive. I just really understand the value of what you can do.

One positive interaction with someone can change their whole life. I feel like everybody deserves positivity, every kid deserves to have fun, every kid deserves to have a good life, every kid deserves to feel like they’re loved and wanted by somebody. So that’s just really my heart.

Awesome. Did you have somebody like that in your life when you were a kid?

Yeah, I had a strong support system. I grew up in the Boys and Girls Club, was on a bunch of different football and basketball teams. I’ve always had a bunch of mentors and people I could look up to growing up. I’m feeling in those shoes now because I’m 24 years old, kids look up to me and stuff. I’m just trying to be a positive role model for the youth.

You talked about building a rec center. Are you talking about here or back home?

Back home, because in my hometown I feel like that’s what we lack, specifically where I grew up in Washington D.C. When I moved to Maryland, when I was a teenager in Maryland, the conflict was there wasn’t really anywhere for us to hang out – a safe place for us to hang out – and influence a lot of people to do other things instead of getting in trouble and stuff like that.

So, I feel like the recreation center will keep everything in house and allow kids to focus on things they need to focus on. We’ll be able to provide tutors, mentorship. It’ll be somewhere safe for the kids to go when it gets dark outside and they don’t have to hang out in the streets. You can play basketball, you can do arts and crafts, you can figure out a bunch of stuff that you’re interested in doing rather than things that you’re influenced by. So, that’s my whole motive for the recreation center.

How good does it feel to be in the position that you’re in now, that you can make differences in kids’ lives in all sorts of different ways like you’re doing now?

It feels right, it feels good, but it feels like I’m doing what I’m supposed to be doing. Like I’ll be selling myself short if I was just all about myself. ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s all about myself’ but, really, I feel like it’s bigger than me. That’s just how I feel: It’s bigger than me. Everything is bigger than me.

You a good bowler?

I’m a decent bowler. If I’m into it, I can do it, but I don’t know if I’m going to be the best bowler in the house. But the whole thing is for a great cause. This will be my first event sponsored by a nonprofit organization.

After this, we’re going to hit the ball rolling fast, helping in any way we can. That’s all I’m trying to do, just play football and help others. In my head, that’s all there is to doing life. Playing football, making a good living from playing football and helping others. That’s what I like to do.

One football question. What’s the challenge for you this week?

I don’t want to say challenge, but just play my game and stay locked in the whole game. Really. Play for four quarters.

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