Making a Difference

PHILADELPHIA – Tucked away up a winding driveway on Germantown Avenue, in front of a facility intended to nurture children and provide them with tools they need to embark on a successful academic career, a community gathered to celebrate the holidays.

ITB Photo: Nakobe Dean’s toy drive

The festivities at the Jordan Family Learning Center included a smattering of balloons, a snow machine, food truck containing funnel cake and hot chocolate, and a fire truck.

It also featured a wide-ranging soundtrack provided by DJ Diamond Kuts.

Kids were dancing and grown-ups mingled, as the festive feel and close-knit nature of the community was evident.

The event, “The Nakobe Dean Toy Drive,” which ran from 4 to 6 p.m., reached a frenzy of sorts when Dean, the Eagles emerging linebacker, pulled up alongside the towering bins.

With him came a treasure trove of toys and games for children and families this holiday season.

When each person would drop a toy into the bin, they’d be handed a ticket from an event representative. The ticket could be redeemed for funnel cake and fried Oreos.

It took Dean a moment to make his way through the event, as he first popped his trunk to unload his heaps of toys, making multiple trips to the bins.

Dean’s foundation, The Kind Hearts Foundation, supports disadvantaged children and families.

“I knew I wanted to have my own foundation.,” he said. “My mom was kind of the lead of it as far as she was the one who helped get me going and helped me continue to stay on top of it because it was a lot of work, for sure.

“But yeah, we just continued to push. We just really made it in the last two months or so, so we just continued to work. I mean, I’ve been doing work in the community, but now we put a foundation behind it.”

Dean, who is extremely active in the Philadelphia community, also made an impact during Thanksgiving, giving away turkeys and holiday bags to support families in Cherry Hill.

Giving back to the community is second-nature to Dean, who wants to use his platform for good, furnishing children and families with supplies during the holidays.

It’s been a focal point instilled in him from an early age.

“Growing up, my mother, she had something called the ‘Twelve Days of Christmas,’ so we did at least 12 types of community service events,” he said. “If it was something big, something little … it didn’t matter. We did something growing up to give back to the community.

“It continued when I got to college. As soon as I was able to use my name and likeness in NIL, I did community work. Ever since I’ve been in the league, I give back to the community every time I get a chance.”

Dean added that his mother, Neketta, who worked in community relations, had the family working in the community during the years.

As he recalled, if there was something extra and they weren’t doing something on a random Saturday, Neketta would have them “clean up the street with everybody else.”

“You wanna help the community, you wanna give back to the community — if they need it or not,” Dean said. “You wanna be a positive influence on everybody.”

The turnout was exceptional, as the local community rallied around Dean and his fundraiser, providing hope, optimism and warm-hearted holiday cheer.

In the midst of the celebration, it’s easy to lose sight of Dean’s devotion to maximizing his platform and extending a hand, even with so much on his plate in-season. It’s not only the sign of a humanitarian, but also a natural born leader.

And in a light-hearted moment, Dean reflected back to his own childhood, recalling a gift in which conjured fond memories.

“The first thing that came to my mind was a drum set,” he said. “My momma, I wanted a drum set real bad, and she got me a drum set. She probably regretted it because I made a lot of noise, but she got me a drum set and I loved it. But I never even put it together the right way. I was beating on it too hard and never got in a rhythm on it.”

– Andrew DiCecco (@AndrewDiCecco) is a Staff Reporter/Content Producer for InsideTheBirds.com.