Last Tuesday, tight end Julius Thomas took time to share his passion for reading and education with the students of Greenlee Elementary School in Denver.
"Reading is my passion: It's something I enjoy and spend a lot of time doing. I truly believe in education for young people," said Thomas after the event.
Last month Thomas' foundation "Reading Equates to Success" held a book drive and donated all of the books they collected to Greenlee for their students to use. Thomas read Pete the Cat: I Love My White Shoes to a number of classes, and invited children to dance to the YouTube version of the book with him, finding a way to make reading a fun and active experience for the kids.
"I didn't know they had collaborations like that, but I was doing my best to get them to dance," the tight end admitted.
"There are so many things that you can do to enjoy life and reading and being active are two things that I've spent most of my life doing."
Thomas hopes that by sharing his passion with the young kids and showing them how fun reading can be, he can show how reading and knowledge is cool.
"When I was younger a lot of people thought it wasn't cool to read or that it wasn't what you should be doing if you wanted to be somebody that was impressive," said Thomas. "I personally think reading is very important to having success in life—whether it be in sports, business, anything you do."
For more information about Thomas's community work and how you can support his cause, please visit www.ReadingEquatesToSuccess.org.
