Philadelphia Eagles President Shares The Eagles Autism Challenge

Steve Adubato goes one-on-one with Christina Weiss Lurie, President of the Eagles Charitable Foundation, to discuss the Philadelphia Eagles' support of autism research through their Eagles Autism Challenge, which reaches Philadelphia's youngest residents with health and wellness initiatives.

11/28/17 #2088

Excerpt:

"Welcome One on One. I'm Steve Adubato. And this is Christina Weiss Lurie, President, Eagles Charitable Foundation, also Eagles Social Responsibility. Good to see you. Good to see you. We're not just talking about any Eagles, we're talking about the Eagles in Philadelphia. We are. Set up that connection for us. Yeah. [laughter] The Eagles and the Lurie Family. We started our Eagles Charitable Foundation under a different name, Eagles Youth Partnership in 1995. When Jeffrey Lurie and I bought the team in '94, we knew that we were getting something wonderful in terms of a football team. You know, it had a great history, it had an... amazing passionate fans, but what we didn't know was that we also had a platform with this team, with which we could hopefully do lots of positive impact, positive change, in the community. And that was a surprise, especially to me because, you know, I grew up in London. I knew very little about American football and... Or Philadelphia? Or Philadelphia. But, no no no, my dad was born in Philadelphia. Oh really? Yeah. Okay. And... But it was a gift in terms of... I got to know the city, I met lots of different people, and I wanted to maximize this opportunity. And so Eagles Youth Partnership, which then became Eagles Charitable Foundation, became this opportunity to give... to work with the community, to work with our fans, to give back. And we focused on comprehensive vision care for kids. And recently autism. Let's talk about the Autism Challenge. So I'm not sure if you're aware of the Pan Mass Challenge, which is this bike challenge out of Boston, it raises millions of dollars for cancer. Autism is this bio-neurological disorder that affects the development of the brain. It's underfunded. Not enough people are aware of how many children are impacted. One in, I think, 42 boys is born on the spectrum. Hmm. The numbers are... The autism spectrum? On the autism spectrum. The numbers are huge. And so when you... we looked at the success of this bike challenge in Boston, and I thought, "Why can't we do something similar for autism in Philadelphia?" And that was the start of the Eagle's Autism Challenge, which will take place next May. Our first cycling challenge on May 19th. Talk to us about... the NFL is such a bottom line... I don't mean that in a bad way... but a business. And I happen to, you know, I love football... the Giants, and there's been a longtime rivalry with the Eagles. The spirit of wanting to give back, beyond the bottom line, where does that come from? It's back to that platform that..."