As an NFL player, Chris Draft doesn’t get to return home very often, so when he does, he likes to make sure he can give back to the community that gave so much to him growing up. This time, Draft and the Chris Draft Family Foundation partnered with the Los Angeles Unified Schools and invited student-leaders to a viewing and discussion of the hit film “The Blind Side,” to highlight the importance of positive character traits featured in the film.

On Friday, February 26 at 9:15 a.m. at the AMC Magic Johnson Crenshaw 15 in Los Angeles (1400 4020 Marlton Ave., Los Angeles, CA, 90008), student-leaders were invited to a private showing of “The Blind Side,” which is nominated for Best Picture at the 2010 Academy Awards. Following the movie, Draft lead a discussion of the film, pointing out the key character traits throughout the movie. Now, each student will participate in an essay contest, with the winners getting the opportunity to have dinner with Draft. The students will be asked to write a one-page essay and submit it to their school administrators. The students, known as “Draft’s Picks,” were selected because of their leadership, academic, extracurricular activities and community service.

“The Blind Side” is based on a true story which depicts the story of Michael Oher, a teenager who is surviving on his own, virtually homeless, when he is spotted on the street by Leigh Anne Tuohy.  Learning that the young man is one of her daughter’s classmates, Leigh Anne insists that Michael—wearing shorts and a t-shirt in the dead of winter—come out of the cold. Without a moment’s hesitation, she invites him to stay at the Tuohy home for the night. What starts out as a gesture of kindness turns into something more as Michael becomes part of the Tuohy family, despite the differences in their backgrounds.

The Chris Draft Family Foundation’s “A Discussion and a Movie” is an effort to promote the development of the following Character Team™ traits as pillars that build positive and productive men and women: compassion, courage, honest, perseverance, respect, responsible and self-discipline. Through the attainment of these positive character traits, the foundation’s goal of encouraging the achievement of academic success, leadership and positive change in communities across the country will be accomplished, continuing the work the Chris Draft Family Foundation started with the character-based event.

About the Character Team™
The Chris Draft Family Foundation launched the Character Team™ in August 2007 as an effort to help good young men and women across the country extend the character-building lessons learned from participation in team sports and extracurricular activities as they apply to everyday life. The focal point of the Character Team™ is to provide unchanging, unwavering, and indestructible standards as a means of measurement focusing on the key character traits of: compassion, courage, honest, perseverance, respect, responsible, and self-discipline.