Shaun Phillips visits Montgomery Middle in support of afterschool program

   In what seemed to be chaos, San Diego Charger Shaun Phillips took a look around, began lining people up in the right positions and got ready for what was about to happen. This wasn’t a scene on the football field; it was the scene at Montgomery Middle School. Phillips wasn’t getting ready to face an opposing offense, he was getting ready to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches – a lot of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

   Montgomery Middle School participates in the Afterschool All-Stars program, a national afterschool program for 8th graders that operates at over 450 sites across the country. Phillips visited the school to support the program as well as join them in a service project of making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches that were later donated to the San Diego Rescue Mission for distribution to the homeless.

   The idea for the project came after Phillips met Danielle LiVolsi, CEO of NuttZo Peanut Butter, and local company that makes organic peanut butter and whose mission is to give back to the San Diego community. Once the plans were put into place, Montgomery Middle was a perfect location to host the event.

   “Donating money is fine, but it’s nothing like being in the action,” said Phillip. “I want to show [the students] that I really do care.”

   Along with his son Jaylen, who joined the students from Montgomery Middle in making the sandwiches, Phillips announced to the students that Montgomery Middle made “the best PB&J in the world.”

   “Community involvement something we value very highly in the Sweetwater District,” said Board President Arlie N. Ricasa. “We are glad that we can count on the San Diego Chargers to partner with us on such important projects.”