The Cincinnati Bengals season has just started and DePaul Cristo Rey (DPCR) student-athletes are already winning with every touchdown scored this year thanks to the Joe Burrow Foundation, Prolink, and MyWhy Cincinnati.

Students, teachers, staff, and special guests were on hand Friday, September 15 to kick off the new Level the Playing Field program at a Bengals-themed pep rally. Here’s how Level the Playing Field works: Prolink will donate $100 to the Joe Burrow Foundation each time the Bengals score this season. The Joe Burrow Foundation will match Prolink’s donation and these funds will support MyWhy, the organization that created and sponsors Level the Playing Field. DPCR is the first high school to have this program.

MyWhy has already delivered a refrigerator and stocked it with fruit from Kroger. After Friday’s rally, all students went home with a Joe Burrow Foundation bag filled with apples, oranges and bananas. The refrigerator will be re-stocked weekly with produce and sports drinks so student-athletes can fuel before and after practices and games, and at the end of each week, any student can take produce home.

As Level the Playing Field ramps up, several DPCR students will be trained to assist and maintain the program which will include nutrition education. The goal is to boost athletic performance on the field with healthy food and hydration off the field.

DePaul Cristo Rey is a Catholic, college-preparatory high school with a mission to educate young people who have the potential but limited financial means to go to college. This is accomplished through a dynamic academic program partnered with an innovative Corporate Work Study Program, not available at any other local high school. Sponsored by the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati, DPCR is one of 39 high schools in the nationwide Cristo Rey Network® which serves 12,300 young people.