OWINGS MILLS, Md. — They took care of business on Sunday, now the Ravens are bringing joy to the flock with more than just their performance on the field.
On Monday, Roquan Smith was joined by his fellow teammates at a Target in Owings Mills to give children from Bridges, a local foundation, a gift for the holidays.
That gift? A $200 shopping spree — and they knew nothing about it.
Not until Smith walked in himself and delivered the news personally.
"We kept it a big secret so the kids didn't know, but the parents knew certain details, so to see the smiles on their faces and to know that they were super surprised and didn't know until the last minute, it's been great," said Ysem Brown, director of Bridges.
The main goal of Bridges - seeing the long term success of Baltimore City's youth throughout their educational career.
Funded by the Roquan Smith Foundation, and the Baltimore Ravens, each child was given a list and assigned a player to roam the store with to spend their money.
Smith was joined by Justin Tucker, Zay Flowers, Marcus Williams, Isaiah Likely, Tyler Linderbaum, and many more of his teammates to assist kids with their shopping.
"I feel like it's always good to help kids, you know, pick out gifts for the holidays, the holidays are about giving back and understanding the good things in life, so just to help them be comfortable with shopping for their elders, to learn that skill, it feels good," said outside linebacker Odafe Oweh.
Smith, who represents the Ravens as a nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, said it felt great to be out there in the holiday spirit, but he always aims to do more for the community.
"I do what I do because I truly care about the individuals, I care about making an impact in the community," Smith said. "If I'm only known as being a good football player then I sold myself short in a sense, so I just want to have a huge impact on kids lives and just knowing that there is so much more out there as long as they do the right things in school and that there's so many people out there that try to put good back into the world. So I'm just trying to do my part and that's all I can really do."
The store was packed with players and kids aiming to make the holidays great for more then just themselves.