Rocky McIntosh’s Kindergarten Workbook, Dinner

On January 10, Redskins linebacker Rocky McIntosh launched his own nonprofit organization, called A GRAN Foundation, targeted at empowering youth to success by giving them the necessary guidance.

For the last month, the foundation has been working once a week with underserved kids at Yorkshire Elementary in Manassas, Va.  That’s where the sweet workbooks come in, explained Rocky’s wife, Alessia.

“They spend half of their time doing physical activity and enrichment, and half the time doing academic, curriculum-based activities,” she said.  ”We’ve created these weekly workbooks to take home and work on.  When they meet with the teachers, they do a lesson that’s related to the week’s theme.”

The story behind the “GRAN”  foundation name, is actually the four names in the McIntosh family: Gavin (son), Rocky, Alessia and Natalie (daughter).  Not only is it a tribute to Rocky’s family, but it’s also a reminder that the youth need their families in order to succeed.

“We just meet once a month with the parents and try to get them engaged with the activities and promote healthy lifestyles,” Alessia explained.  ”Obviously, the kids aren’t the ones buying the groceries or picking the foods for the house, so we educate the parents a little bit about what a healthy lifestyle encompasses.”

Rocky explained that he’s been looking for a charity to support since he came to Washington six years ago.  He thanked his wife for supporting this venture, which the family is paying for out of pocket.

“The biggest thing is we provide them with shoes and coats for the winter, as well as the food, because we do feed them,” he said with a smile.  ”I can’t work with the whole school right now, and I know there are other parents interested.”

So McIntosh is hosting an event on Sunday, Feb. 19th at The Palms in DC, in order to raise money and expand his program.  The menu for the evening is Surf-n-Turf and the wait staff includes beloved Redskins Sam Huff, Brandon Banks, Kory Lichtensteiger, Josh Wilson, Derrick Dockery, Evan Royster, Charles Mann, Antwaan Randle El, Clinton Portis and Fred Smoot.