Michael Vick Speaks To Youth In Hunting Park Recreation Center In North Philly

If you had walked up to the Hunting Park Recreation Center yesterday, you would have thought President Barack Obama was making an appearance, because there were police officers and police cars all over the place. People were whispering and excited as if deity were present.

Eagles quarterback Michael Vick was on the scene and you could see that this was a major event to all those in attendance. He spoke to about 300 youngsters, along with their parents and families at the Hunting Park Recreation Center yesterday on behalf of the Humane Society and the Hunting Park United organization.

I thought the youngsters were going to mob Vick when he was introduced. They were screaming at the top of their lungs and it too quite a while to get them to settle down. There’s nothing like seeing the excitement of young eager athletes when they get face to face with somebody they think can walk on water. This was a dream come true for many of them and they could hardly contain themselves.

Vick talked about his current endeavors with the Humane Society. He continues to make appearances on their behalf to discourage youngster from getting involved in dogfighting.

The former Virginia Tech star talked about making mistakes during earlier years and getting involved in dogfighting. He spoke about how he had to pay a price for that mistake and he challenged the youngsters not to go down that same path.

Vick encouraged them to work on making progress toward their goals and staying away from dogfighting and violence of all kinds. The audience broke in with applause when he talked about making mistakes and turning his life around.

The Eagles star revealed that he wouldn’t want to change what happened and his stint behind bars because it helped shape him into the person he is today.

He encouraged the youngsters not to let down their parents. Vick talked about how he tries to be a role model now and he let them know that they should follow that same path of trying to be examples to others.

Members of the the North Philadelphia Aztecs, which is a Pop Warner Football team were in attendance as well as the Hunting Park Indians which is a youth baseball team in the area. Their coaches had made the effort to get in contact with Vick and organize his appearance at the center.

Vick’s appearance is all apart of a bigger plan to support the youth of the Hunting Park area, by refurbishing the park and the facilities.

There are a number of parents, coaches and people in the Hunting Park area, who are focused on making a difference in revitalizing the recreational facilities in that area of North Philadelphia. They’ve formed an organization which goes by the name of Hunting Park United. They’ve got the youth leagues flourishing as you could see with the turn at the Vick event.

Other local sports stars are involved such as, Phillies slugging first baseman Ryan Howard, who through his foundation is spearheading the building of a new baseball field in the park near the recreational center which Vick spoke at. As you can see by this picture, the current field is run down and beat up. Howard’s foundation will break ground later this month and put a baseball field in place that will give the kids a quality field to play on. Numerous corporations are getting involved to try to bring the park and area back to life. Citizen’s Bank is one such company which has gotten involved.

Roberto Clemente Jr., who is the son of Hall of Fame Pittsburgh Pirate outfielder, Roberto Clemente, has an organization which is involved. His group is based in New York but they’re helping to furnish the youth baseball teams in the Hunting Park area with bats, gloves, baseballs and other baseball equipment.

They’re having a black tie fundraiser on April 16th at the New Pennsylvania Convention Center. If you’re interested in making a donation or coming the event give them a call at (267) 584-8980.