More than 4,000 youth will participate in the Jaguars Foundation's Honor Rows this season. The Foundation partners with 39 Jacksonville-area nonprofit agencies to provide goal-setting programs for economically and socially disadvantaged youth to earn a seat to a Jaguars home game. Since the inaugural season of 1995, a total of 51,900 Honor Rows seats have been awarded to youth, parents, staff and volunteers, including 4,588 for the 2009 season. With assistance from parents, mentors and agency staff, youth ages nine to 17 seek to improve themselves and the community by setting and achieving goals for academic and behavioral improvement, increasing physical activity and eating more nutritionally, and providing volunteer community service. Program duration is a minimum of eight weeks. The youth also take an anti-substance abuse pledge to abstain from illegal drugs, tobacco products and alcohol. The child's parents or guardians co-sign the pledge card agreeing to support the youth in their promise. Historically, more than 90% of youth meet their goals and earn their seat. In addition to a game day ticket, Honor Rows participants receive a complimentary meal, Tee-shirt, cap, pledge card, and certificate of completion. During the game, Wayne and Delores Barr Weaver lead The ROAR and Jaguars fans in a wave to congratulate the youth, seated in the north end zone, in recognition of their accomplishment, while the youths' enthusiastic response is shown on the large end-zone video screens. Game day volunteers provided through the United Way of Northeast Florida ensure that the youth have a safe and enjoyable game day experience. Honor Rows is the largest of the Foundation's charitable seating programs, which also includes Sailors Aweigh (providing home game tickets for youth whose parents are on deployment with the U.S. Navy), youth football associations in low-income neighborhoods, HabiJax volunteers, Ronald McDonald House families and others. The Foundation allocates more than $420,000 worth of home game seats to charitable purposes annually. Below are the 2009 Honor Rows grant recipients and their assigned home game:

09/20 Arizona Cardinals 

• Central Metropolitan CME Church
• Community Connections of Jacksonville
• Northeast Florida Community Action Agency
• Northside Community Involvement 10/04 Tennessee Titans
  

• The Bridge of Northeast Florida
• Children's Home Society
• Communities in Schools - Jacksonville
• Families First
• Lutheran Social Services *10/18 St. Louis Rams *

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of Northeast Florida
• Child Guidance Center
• daniel, Inc.
• Duval Juvenile Residential Facility
• Gateway Community Services
• Hubbard House
• Jacksonville Marine Institute
• Northeast Florida Community Action Agency
• River Region Human Services
• United Congregations for Community and Youth
• White Youth Foundation

11/08 Kansas City Chiefs

• Communities in Schools - Jacksonville
• Empowerment Resources Inc.
• Guardian Catholic Schools
• Shands Jacksonville

11/22 Buffalo Bills

• Bethel Baptist Institutional Church
• Boys and Girls Clubs of Northeast Florida
• Community Connections of Jacksonville
• Jacksonville Children's Choir
• Heart to Heart Christian Academy
• Sanctuary on 8th Street

12/06 Houston Texans

• The Bridge of Northeast Florida
• Communities in Schools of Nassau County
• Communities in Schools of St. Johns County
• MaliVai Washington Kids Foundation
• PACE Center for Girls- Jacksonville
• Police Athletic League of Jacksonville
• Potter's House Christian Academy

12/13 Miami Dolphins

• • YMCA of Florida's First Coast
  • Duval County 4-H Foundation
  • Girls Inc. of Jacksonville
  • Habitat for Humanity, Jacksonville Beaches

The Jaguars Foundation seeks to leverage local, state, and national resources to serve economically and socially disadvantaged youth and families in greater Jacksonville. Other Foundation programs include: Grant making to area non-profit agencies totaling more than $12.5 million since 1995; The Official Playbooks®, an innovative program established in 1996 in partnership with public libraries and Pepsi to inspire young people to read; Straight Talk™, designed to educate and reduce the incidence of teen pregnancy and the spread of AIDS and other sexuality transmitted infections through a strategic partnership with local media, non-profit organizations and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Florida; "What Moves U," a youth anti-obesity initiative in partnership with Baptist Health/Wolfson Children's Hospital, the NFL and the American Heart Association; and the "Jaguars Don't Smoke" youth anti-tobacco initiative established in partnership with The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation to reduce smoking among youth.