Draft Family Fitness Day starts with one thing, character. Every participant invited to attend the camp, whether youth or parent, receives a Chris Draft Family Foundation Character Team™ shirt, proudly displaying one of seven character traits: Compassion, Courage, Honest, Perseverance, Respect, Responsible and Self-Discipline.

Rams linebacker Chris Draft, the founder of the Chris Draft Family Foundation, wanted to keep that message going, even after the camp at Herbert Hoover Boys and Girls Club on May 9 had ended. So, he took his message and his Character Team™ t-shirts to the streets of St. Louis.

“Part of doing Draft Day® is that we wanted to make sure that the message of Draft Day® really extended further than just one day,” Draft said. “How does it extend to other individuals, not just the campers? The message of Draft Day® really starts with the Character Team™, and the shirts that the campers are wearing. What we were able to do was take that message, take it out to St. Louis, head down to The Loop with the support of Plaza Motors and Pepsi. We were able to take that message out to the Loop on a beautiful day and interact with some folks that were just kind of hanging out.”

A caravan of cars Draft received from Plaza Motors made their way down Delmar Blvd., the area of St. Louis that has become known as the Loop.  The stretch of Delmar Blvd. features unique shops and places to spend the day outdoors, so it was an ideal location for Draft to pull up with a Pepsi semi-truck in tow to hand out shirts as well as Aquafina water.

Draft greeted the people walking along the street, talking to them about not only the importance of character and the message of Draft Family Fitness Day, but also about St. Louis. He stopped several people to ask “What is St. Louis to you?”

“The day was perfect, but more than that, it was perfect because you didn’t see a whole bunch of individuals walking about (without their friends or family),” Draft said. “When we talked to them and asked what St. Louis is to them, a lot of them said St. Louis is home, St. Louis is friends, basically St. Louis is family, and you could see that. It was a great time. We had a chance to talk to a lot of people and really recognize what St. Louis is.”

People walking on the loop flocked to Draft when they noticed the No. 52 emblazoned on his back. Some asked questions about the Rams season, others stopped for autographs or photos. No matter who stopped, though, Draft was spreading his message of character and family.

“I think the biggest message was ‘let’s take care of our family,’” Draft said. “Let’s enjoy this time. It was a perfect day. There were a lot of families moving around. Enjoy this day, and be that role model in your kids lives. Encourage them to stand up. Encourage them to do what’s right. Always hold family important. All these character traits are kind of the core of a strong family. We get a chance to talk to some great leaders at our camp, and hopefully we were able to recruit a lot more by taking it to the streets of St. Louis.”