Earlier this afternoon, Redskins wide receiver Leonard Hankerson joined FedEx workers to read to and distribute Redskins Read activity books to students at the Longview School in Germantown, Md.
This is the 13th year for the Redskins Read program, which was established by the Redskins Charitable Foundation at its inception in 2000. This is the fourth year that the Redskins have teamed up with FedEx, in an effort to spread literacy and learning in the metropolitan area.
The Redskins will distribute approximately 360,000 activity books this year to various area schools. Since 2009, FedEx has helped the Redskins ship more than 480,000 books.
Longview School–a special education school for disabled children–was selected by the Redskins this year thanks to a teacher, Josh Schechter, who wrote a letter requesting a visit from players. He told the organization that he had the biggest Redskins fans in his school and classroom, and he was right.
The school colors for Longview happen to be Burgundy and Gold, and most students and staff show their school and team spirit throughout the year.
Hey, they even do Redskins-related math problems, especially featuring No. 85:
When they count up to 106, they can talk about Hankerson’s big day vs. Miami earlier this year.
While FedEx workers dispersed to the eight classrooms to read to the children for the afternoon, Hankerson made his way around with the activity books, personally greeting and interacting with each student and staff member.
His biggest fan was a student by the name of Marissa, who was decked out in her Redskins-best for the event. Her mom and brother were there for photo opportunities with Hankerson, and she was even wearing her favorite Redskins slippers.
When Hankerson visited her classroom, she played him an extra special song on her audio device:
“I was just here to put smiles on the kids faces today and just have fun with everybody that was here,” Hankerson told me in between classrooms. ”I’m showing love to the kids. It made me feel awesome to be here and sign some autographs with some real fans.
“If they’re happy, then we’re all happy.”
In the last classroom of the day, Hankerson met his happiest fan: little Patrick Webster, who just learned to walk on his own. After seeing him toddling around the room, Hankerson walked over and picked him up, making him Patrick’s new best friend:
Leonard, meet Patrick–your new biggest fan:
