Just in time for the new school year, Bellevue-based Ascend Hospitality Group partnered with former Seahawk and Super Bowl champion Cliff Avril and the Cliff Avril Family Foundation to launch the Cliff Has Your Back program. This collab provides underprivileged children with a custom-designed backpack, filled with supplies.
Cliff Avril Family Foundation and Ascend Hospitality Group (AHG) came together last fall over a shared interest in childhood nutrition; the mission of Cliff Avril Family Foundation is to increase the awareness of Type 2 diabetes in youth and to encourage healthy living, while AHG’s main philanthropic focus is on education and feeding its communities.
To create the design of the backpacks, Avril threw footballs at paint-filled balloon targets that were attached to a 10-ft.-tall blank canvas. The design was then resized and printed on the 250 custom backpacks for students in need.
Each backpack will include school supplies provided by AHG and Amazon Fresh store in Bellevue, as well as USDA-approved grocery shopping lists, activity sheets and more, plus a $25 gift card to shop at any Amazon Fresh grocery store.
On Sunday, August 22, from 3 to 6 p.m., Avril and AHG will host a pick-up event for all recipients at the Amazon Fresh in Bellevue’s The Marketplace at Factoria. Now through August 13, members of the community can nominate students for the backpack experience at www.ascendhg.com/ahgcares.