Pitt DE Deslin Alexandre Uses Bye Week to Promote Fifth Down Initiative
PITTSBURGH -- Deslin Alexandre enjoyed some rare free time last week while the Pitt Panthers were on their bye. He used some of those free moments to promote a NIL venture - not one that he himself will profit from, but a charitable one that hits close to home.
This summer, Alexandre founded The Fifth Down Campaign in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Kids Foundation and Pitt's NIL collective, Alliance 412. The goal is to raise $50,000 for kids in Alexandre's hometown of Cap-Haitien, Haiti so they can buy food, school supplies and other basic needs. All donations go to IDADEE, a non-denominational Christian group supporting the health and educational needs of kids in Cap-Haitien.
Alexandre hosted a group of students from Dilworth Traditional Academy at Pitt's practice and met more students from Sacred Heart Elementary School. Both groups of kids put on fundraisers to benefit the Fifth Down Campaign, which is currently just short of one-fifth of the way to its goal. Alexandre said facilitating this event with those students was rewarding because those students were helping kids just like them.
“I’ve been to Sacred Heart and Dilworth," Alexandre said. "What they did was they had a dress-down day to be able to raise some money for the Fifth Down Campaign. I was so blessed and it was such a blessing from them. The big thing is it was kids helping kids. … It just gives me a lot of hope for the future and the kids doing good in their communities.”
Inspired by his ties to the country and the work his former teammate Cal Adomitis did with his Cal's Kids Initiative, which raised more than $121,000 for UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Alexandre wanted to do something personal that also had a wide impact with his newly found Name, Image and Likeness rights. He's happy to have been able to reach so many people and help the town he was born in at the same time.
“I think it means a lot to be able to help people outside of their circle, when you’re talking about our reach, reaching people beyond where you live. I had some people reach out to me over social media trying to say how they appreciate it, even people in Haiti. Just to have some people not know about Haiti, then learn a little more about Haiti and be able to give back, it all goes back to the mission.”
Alexandre said he's been back to Haiti "a few times" since moving to Florida when he was three or four years old and another return trip is in the plan. He still wants to prepare himself for a future in the NFL, but says he'll find the time following the end of football season to go see the fruit of his efforts in action back at home in Cap-Haitien.
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