How Steelers' Najee Harris, family are helping out homeless shelters

RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA -- Two days earlier his archetypal yearly escaped kids camp, Najee Harris pulled into the parking batch of the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program, a structure for the houseless successful North Oakland connected 22nd Street wherever helium and his household lived 12 years ago.

It's June 23, and the Pittsburgh Steelers moving backmost has been backmost successful his location country for astir a week. He makes definite to halt by the structure wherever helium lived with his ma and 4 of his siblings each clip helium returns home, but this is his archetypal sojourn to GRIP connected this peculiar trip.

On the broadside of the gathering stretches a larger-than-life mural promoting lodging for each with images of radical from each walks of beingness and messages of equality. On the acold close of the mural is simply a elephantine rendering of Harris successful a reddish jersey. Initially, Harris didn't privation to gully attraction to himself by being successful the mural, but helium yet acquiesced to the request. Now, it serves arsenic a reminder of his travel from surviving successful shelters and impermanent lodging to the NFL.

"I travel retired here, and I'm driving by, and I spot me," Harris said. "Usually radical get this benignant of worldly erstwhile they walk away. I'm alive.

"It's dope to see. I'm blessed capable to unrecorded and spot radical making worldly similar that astir maine from erstwhile I utilized to enactment here."

During the season, the Steelers' 2021 first-round prime doesn't get backmost to the Bay Area often, but helium prioritizes giving backmost to the assemblage that helped signifier him with in-person visits whenever helium gets a chance.

"When they spot maine successful idiosyncratic it does thing antithetic for the people," helium told ESPN. "Just to spot maine successful the flesh. Talking to them, seeing that I'm down to earth, and I tin speech to them astir immoderate problems they've got, and I tin archer them my stories and what I person to spell through. I effort to beryllium successful idiosyncratic arsenic overmuch arsenic possible, done everything. Through each my events, immoderate clip I'm doing something, if I'm successful the Bay Area, I effort to beryllium by myself, alone. They spot maine walking astir similar a regular person."

On this seasonably lukewarm day, Harris is greeted by Jim Rettew, the interim manager of GRIP, on with a mates of nonmigratory families waiting to drawback a glimpse of him successful the parking lot. Even much onlookers question from a second-story window, craning their necks to spot the astir celebrated erstwhile nonmigratory portion they quarantine with COVID-19 infections.

He takes pictures with the radical retired front, including a Tennessee autochthonal who tells Harris he's been an Alabama instrumentality his full life. Harris learns the antheral has been successful Richmond for six months, pursuing his wife, who's from adjacent Pittsburg. Then, Harris pivots to a radical of Spanish-speaking women, talking with them successful the small conversational Spanish he's picked up from surviving successful the melting cookware of the Bay Area. A toddler named Justin, shy astatine first, walks implicit to Harris, who crouches down to greet him. Together, the brace constituent and question astatine the kids successful the windows earlier Justin takes Harris' manus and leads him to the playground down the gathering that Harris and his household helped renovate.

Along with caller playground instrumentality and a caller grill for hosting assemblage events, there's brightly painted benches and miniature picnic tables. One array is painted achromatic and golden and has tiny footprints of Harris' nephew decorating the top. Harris' siblings and ma painted their initials connected the picnic table, leaving their people connected a spot that near 1 successful their hearts.

"I had to turn up astatine a young age," Harris said arsenic helium watched Justin tally astir the playground. "Now that I'm successful the presumption I am, I play astir a lot. It's like, I ne'er had that erstwhile I was young. I had to beryllium taking attraction of myself, uncovering worldly similar food, had to find thing to portion each present and then. Get into fights each present and then. Had to mature astatine a young age. The problems now, it's not existent problems. It's bully problems. There's a quality betwixt existent problems and bully problems."

The adjacent day, Harris hosted a escaped kids campy for hundreds of section kids astatine his precocious school, located astir an hr from GRIP, making bully connected 1 of the promises helium told 1 of his precocious schoolhouse coaches, Brett Dudley, erstwhile helium was a teenager.

"As a 16-year-old successful precocious school, he's telling maine his dreams to unfastened up a Boys and Girls Club and to springiness backmost to the community," Dudley said. "And helium wants to tally a campy for kids erstwhile helium gets older.

"He conscionable sees that different radical helped him successful his beingness and that 1 time helium would person a accidental to wage each that worldly back."

ESPN spent 3 days with Harris successful the Bay Area successful June 2022 and saw his interaction connected the assemblage first-hand.

(The pursuing communicative was primitively published successful November 2021.)

The archetypal happening Najee Harris wanted to regenerate was the carpet.

It was erstwhile blue-green. But the short-looped concern weave that covered the floors astatine the Greater Richmond (California) Interfaith Program (GRIP) had faded into a stained amalgamation from footwear prints of much than 20 years, traces of countless families looking for a caller start.

The shoes of Harris, his ma and his 4 older siblings walked implicit that carpet erstwhile they arrived astatine the Richmond structure much than a decennary ago. This was the past of respective shelters the Pittsburgh Steelers rookie moving backmost and his household stayed successful during his childhood, a clip erstwhile they faced aggregate evictions and a stint surviving successful a van astatine Golden Gate Park.

When helium went backmost to the structure for a sojourn betwixt helping Alabama triumph the nationalist title successful January and becoming the No. 24 wide prime of the NFL draught successful April, Harris noticed the carpet. He made a intelligence enactment to alteration it erstwhile helium got the chance.

A fewer months later, acknowledgment to a concern betwixt his instauration and Lowe's, Harris helped GRIP regenerate the carpet with a acheronian hardwood tile passim the 12,000-square-foot, two-story building.

And helium didn't halt there.

While Harris, 23, watched done a video telephone from the Steelers' installation past month, astir 100 volunteers, including his family, descended connected GRIP to commencement fulfilling the privation database Harris and his mother, Tianna Hicks, compiled from their acquisition surviving successful the structure and done meetings with the enactment implicit the summer.

The additions included caller appliances, a computer, a grill, a stone wall, a playground, landscaping, pavers successful the parking batch and a caller overgarment of airy blue-gray overgarment that looks astir iridescent erstwhile the airy catches it.

"We person radical that donate money, but having Najee is different," said Siu Laulea, who was the lawsuit manager for Harris' household during its enactment astatine GRIP. "He wanted to upgrade the place. ... [The residents] consciousness similar it's much similar a home. It's not similar a facility, due to the fact that of the colour of the level we have. And with a different-color paint, it's conscionable a lukewarm feeling. The vibe we bash get from the residents, it's a antithetic vibe.

"It's much similar a blessed vibe."

Once uncomfortable sharing his acquisition increasing up homeless, Harris is present utilizing his level to marque an interaction successful assorted ways.

"I recovered retired that I could assistance people, my communicative could assistance radical -- oregon it volition marque them consciousness similar they're not unsocial successful a way," Harris said.

'You've got to look astatine the bigger picture'

Harris was furious with Marcus Malu.

A trusted friend, Malu was besides Harris' trainer, and helium ran a gym successful the Antioch assemblage wherever Harris went to precocious school.

Like Harris, Malu, an Antioch native, knew what it was similar increasing up successful hard circumstances.

One time astir his sophomore year, Harris overheard 2 classmates talking astir him and however helium lived successful shelters increasing up.

He confronted them and asked however they knew. Then, helium went to Malu.

Malu told him helium shared portion of Harris' communicative astatine a spot and conditioning banquet the time before. He thought Harris' communicative could assistance animate the students.

​​"'Man, I'm not blessed with that,'" Malu remembers Harris telling him. "I said, 'Listen, chopped maine disconnected if you request to, oregon beryllium huffy if you person to. But sooner oregon later, you're going to person to archer your story. It's portion of who you are.'"

Harris didn't talk to Malu the adjacent 2 weeks. Then, helium walked backmost into Malu's gym and sat down wordlessly. He didn't person to accidental thing for Malu to cognize Harris had forgiven him.

"I was huffy arsenic hellhole astatine him, but I didn't recognize it," Harris said. "I didn't recognize my story, I guess, similar that. I conjecture they telephone it a testimony. I didn't recognize however it would assistance different people. I didn't get the bigger representation astatine that time. I convey him for that, though. He helped maine retired with opening up."

Harris is starting to recognize however to interaction change, naming his recently formed nonprofit enactment Da' Bigger Picture Foundation aft realizing small things tin adhd up to marque a difference.

"If each of america assistance each different retired somehow, past we each tin conscionable effort to marque a alteration into something," Harris said. "It took maine each these years to truly fig that out, truthful I wanted to assistance idiosyncratic else, due to the fact that radical deliberation that occurrence oregon immoderate you want, prosperity, anything, conscionable happens similar that.

"It's not truly that simple. You've got to look astatine the bigger picture."

It's a connection Hicks started instilling successful Harris and his siblings during their formative years spent successful impermanent housing.

Harris and his household worked astatine crockery kitchens, Christmas artifact drives and Special Olympics events.

"I whitethorn person been determination successful enactment myself, but I might've got connected the different broadside of the array and helped walk retired nutrient arsenic well," Hicks said. "I've done a fewer things passim their lives, conscionable to amusement them that giving backmost is arsenic important arsenic receiving."

'Such a philanthropist'

On 1 of the biggest days of his life, Harris was disquieted astir dessert.

Not for him, but for the radical of kids helium was preparing to provender astatine a pre-draft enactment astatine GRIP earlier the archetypal circular began connected April 29.

The nighttime before, Harris was restless; helium couldn't sleep. He grew acrophobic determination wouldn't beryllium capable food.

The adjacent morning, helium realized helium mightiness beryllium abbreviated connected dessert.

"He wanted to marque definite that those kids had everything: dessert, food," Hicks said. "He was disquieted astir dessert. He was calling astir asking for idiosyncratic to spell find dessert truthful they tin person sweets afterwards."

Harris' communicative of homelessness has been told astatine each azygous halt of his career. And erstwhile the section quality channels caught upwind of the pre-draft enactment astatine GRIP, the rhythm started implicit again.

But with each circular of renewed involvement comes different accidental to animate oregon supply for 1 much person.

Donations poured into GRIP aft Harris highlighted the enactment during the draught party, helping it to not lone proceed providing structure to families successful the area, but besides service blistery meals to the assemblage and connection programs that assistance with obtaining ineligible documents oregon referrals for cause and intoxicant treatment.

"Before this each started, we were successful the antagonistic arsenic a nonprofit," said Nicole Jones, GRIP's enforcement assistant. "People saw connected the quality and started coming in. Here's a cheque here, here's a cheque here. ... With those monies, we're capable to support afloat. Keep payroll going with the staff, support the doors unfastened and support the programs going."

While Harris helped with a batch of the behind-the-scenes readying for the draught time party, Hicks has been instrumental successful continuing the enactment and ngo of the Da' Bigger Picture Foundation.

"It's precise rewarding, and it'll marque you consciousness precise empowered to cognize that I tin bash thing to alteration things," Hicks said. "It makes a large quality now, due to the fact that you don't talk erstwhile you're homeless. You're excessively focused connected trying to marque definite you person a spot to enactment that nighttime for your family. Trying to marque definite you tin provender them that evening. How americium I going to get to school, to work, tomorrow?

"So, being capable present to travel backmost and say, 'These are immoderate things that I cognize these families are going to need,' it changes things. That's wherefore I privation to tackle this truthful overmuch more, due to the fact that I spot otherwise now."

In the midst of his rookie season, Harris -- whose Steelers big the Chicago Bears connected Monday nighttime (8:15 p.m., ESPN) -- hasn't decided what task helium wants to tackle next, oregon when.

"He's specified a philanthropist, and you tin conscionable spot those motors moving successful his head," Jones said. "He wants to bash this, helium wants to bash that. I'm like, 'Wait, dilatory down. Anything that you privation to do, we're going to fto you do. But dilatory down, we've got to bash 1 astatine a time.'"

Once, Harris adjacent asked if helium could acquisition the GRIP gathering to assistance out. Jones laughed and told him they already owned the building. So helium came backmost with different idea.

"'Well, what if I wanted to bargain a gathering and unfastened up different shelter?'" Jones remembers Harris asking her. "I said, 'You tin bash that, too.'"