Earlier this month, members of the San Francisco 49ers took some time off from practice to stop by Pomeroy Elementary School in Santa Clara and share an important message with the students. As part of the 49ers’ Read for Justice program, the players visited the school’s classrooms to read “Everyone Belongs” by Heather Avis. Read for Justice is part of the team’s social justice outreach programming and something it’s been doing since 2020.
“The book is about a student who has a disability, and it’s about her classmates just incorporating and finding ways to include her,” said Michelle Beck, director of community relations with the 49ers. “Maybe she wasn’t able to walk up on the stage, but they can move the stage and the play down onto the ground, so that everybody is able to participate. And it’s just about making sure that even if a classmate or a friend can’t participate in one particular way. How can you adapt so that everyone can be involved?”
After reading the book, the players and students did an activity together where they talked about and celebrated each other’s differences. Each student also received a copy of the book to take home, purchased from Ashay By The Bay, a black-owned bookstore in Vallejo.
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The hope is that while only the students at Pomeroy got to read with the players, they’ll share the experience with their families.
“Our hope is that the kids will bring the books home and then read them with their parents or their siblings, so that that message does get home as well,” said Beck.
This year, the students at Pomeroy got an extra treat; they also got to take part in a book fair sponsored by My Heart Charitable Fund and were allowed to take home three additional free books.
The Read for Justice program was presented by Newfront. It has previously gone to Santa Clara’s Scott Lane and Katheryn Hughes elementary schools. This year’s participating players included Ben Bartch, William Bradley-King, Spencer Burford, Alfred Collins, Curtis Robinson, Austen Pleasants, Dom Puni, Patrick Taylor, Tre Tomlinson, CJ West and Nick Zakelj.
Beck says while the kids had fun, they weren’t the only ones enjoying themselves.
“The players love going to these elementary schools and visiting with the kids. I think they often get more out of it than the kids do,” said Beck. “They walk away feeling kind of rejuvenated. Whatever happened in the game last week, they just forget about that, and they get to dive in and talk to these kids and you can tell that it really uplifts them just as much as it does the smiles on the kids’ faces when the players walk in. The players’ smiles are just as big.”
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