June 10, 2020
By: Tiffany Razzano
TAMPA – After a May 16 fire at Tampa’s Blake High School destroyed a storage shed and nearly all of the football program’s equipment, NFL player Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski and his new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, have stepped up to help.
In a Facebook video posted Wednesday, he announced that his organization, the Gronk Nation Youth Foundation, is partnering with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Foundation to replace the lost equipment and to build a new storage shed.
“Last week, we heard about an unfortunate incident in Tampa where a fire burned down a high school storage shed full of their team’s football equipment. Sadly, they lost it all,” Gronkowski said in the video. “Gronk Nation Youth Foundation and my new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are all about helping youth reach their full potential. So, we’re gonna do just that.”
He also told Blake football players to “keep working hard this summer, stay active, stay healthy.”
Gronkowski joined the Bucs from New England in April after Tampa Bay traded their fourth-round NFL Draft pick for the tight end and a seventh-round selection. In this move, he has been reunited with his former Patriots teammate, quarterback Tom Brady.
A huge thanks to @RobGronkowski and the Bucs for this generous donation! ? https://t.co/K5irkVLJ0e
— Hillsborough Schools (@HillsboroughSch) June 9, 2020