JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — What started as a nice gesture for First Coast kids has blossomed into something with major impact.
"Last year me and Eric we took a jump we raised six grand, and we're already closing in on 50 thousand raised this year which is amazing." said Chris Ebreo, Founder of H.E.A.D on Youth Impact.
The Jacksonville-based charity did big numbers, raising close to $30,000 at their NFL Draft Party in Las Vegas.
The momentum and positive feedback is still growing from April as the charity founders continue to embed themselves in the places and with the people they want to help the most, youth.
"These face-to-face meetings with all the people that are actually in the buildings and seeing the patients really helps us in the end." said Co-founder Eric Dunn.
"Wolfson's is going to be a great tour at the end of the month, we did UF Health already, and we've been to Brooks several times, and we'll probably go again to see that location right on 95 and the more we get our name out there and get opportunities to see more hospitals and more places that need our help the better for us." Dunn said.
The charity is sticking to their roots with game raffles featuring unique game day experiences for Jaguar fans, but they're adding a new wrinkle this year.
"Back in February I pitched the idea to Eric and our artist Mitch Kawell about doing some kind of draft shoes," Ebreo said. "We've scaled it back a little bit there was at one point we were going to do all 32 teams, but we decided to focus in on what we thought were kind of the top eight draft picks at the time."
After Sunday's loss to the Commanders, Jaguars rookie Travon Walker, signed his pair of custom shoes.
Ebreo and Dunn had traveled to Washington with the shoes and were able to catch Walker's eye after the game.
Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett came through and signed his custom pair of shoes as well.
H.E.A.D on Youth Impact plans to raffle off the shoes and use the proceeds to buy sneakers for underprivileged kids.
It's another big step for an organization that continues to grow at an exponential rate.
"It is a little surreal and then just the impact I mean the feedback from people that we've talked to I'm sure just in our own networks and the social media feedback has been very encouraging," said Co-founder Patrick Harrack.
H.E.A.D on Youth Impact recently launched its website where you can learn more about the charity and donate.