As part of the Browns' commitment to championing education, youth football and social justice throughout the local community, members of the organization gathered at the CrossCountry Mortgage Campus for the seventh annual Summer Blitz event in July.

Over 105 staff members and four Browns alumni – Ben Davis, Greg Pruitt, Dick Ambrose and Rich Mostardi – participated in the day of service, which is the highest number of participants the Browns have had since the inception of Summer Blitz.

"It brings together all departments, from our ticket office, our corporate partnerships team, our PR department and video content team to name a few, everyone gets to put everything down for a minute and take the time to be together out here," Vice President of Community Relations Jenner Tekancic said. "With over 100 employees volunteering, it's a testament to our love for this community, and we have fun along the way."

The volunteers worked on a number of projects over the course of the day, touching on a specific area of focus for the Browns through the "Browns Flag-In-Schools" program, Stay in the Game! Attendance Network, and the field projects.

The projects included the assembly of field benches, flag in-school tool kits, picnic tables, bikes, Stay in the Game! Attendance Network incentive kits, pencil pouches and hygiene kits, cards, bulletin board kits, student and teacher themed kits, and materials for Deshaun Watson's 7-on-7 tournament. Volunteers also transported the completed field benches to Garfield Heights High School as part of the Browns 15th Field Project installation.

"To see our staff that's able to come out here and build benches that are now going to be at our 15th field that we're installing in the local community – one might hear about the program or might know about the initiative, but once you can do that hands-on work with it knowing they will be used by athletes and kids in the local community, it's just rewarding," Tekancic said. "It's the gift that keeps on giving knowing that you did something that makes a difference. What we try to do with this Summer Blitz project is to really hit all the touch points of what's important to us in the community."

Since 2018, Summer Blitz has served as the organization's largest day of service, highlighting the Browns' commitment to volunteerism through its signature First and Ten program. Totaling over 100 volunteers at each of the last three Summer Blitz events, participants have helped impact over 45 unique programs and organizations tied to Browns Give Back.

Using the event as an opportunity to show members of the organization the direct impact of Browns Give Back across the community, Summer Blitz has taken place at numerous locations across Northeast Ohio.

In 2022, the team visited the East Community Learning Center in Akron, a Stay in the Game! Attendance Network district member. Volunteers used the day to prepare the building ahead of the upcoming school year for students and community members.

Volunteers completed a variety of projects helping further the mission of the Stay in the Game! Attendance Network, which now serves over 350,000 students across 92 districts. Projects included the improvement of overall facility cosmetics, the assembling of over 300 in-home necessity kits for students facing basic need inadequacies, providing hundreds of electronic devices for out-of-the-classroom learning through the NFL's Digital Divide Grant and the creation of the pilot 'Stay in the Game Room' as a reward for improved school attendance, the model for future Stay in the Game! districts.

The impact of youth football across Northeast Ohio was also seen during the 2023 event, held back at CrossCountry Mortgage Campus. Since 2016, the Cleveland Browns and the Haslam and Johnson families have provided 15 high-quality synthetic turf fields throughout Northeast Ohio. Volunteers had the opportunity to provide hands-on assistance with the programs associated with the 14th field project installed at Lou Groza Field.

Volunteers assembled and delivered eight Browns-themed field benches to be used by athletes at the field, striped and packaged over 50 helmets as part of the HELMETS program and created over 200 gift bags for athletes of the Cleveland Browns Adapted Football League who use Lou Groza as its home field.

In addition to annually supporting education programming during Summer Blitz, the Browns have engaged local black-owned businesses through its #BeTheSolution platform, which houses the organization's social justice efforts. During the 2023 event, The Sweet Fix Bakery provided desserts for all volunteers, serving as an extension of the annual "Cleveland Huddle" program, which aims to support minority and black owned restaurants activated annually during Black History Month. During the 2024 day of service, Yum Village – a Cleveland-based Afro-Caribbean style restaurant – provided lunch.

Strategic volunteer opportunities curated by the Browns have been a key facet of the organization's impact across the community.

Launched in 2014, the Cleveland Browns First and Ten campaign is one of the team's flagship community programs, established to inspire fans to help their communities through volunteerism. Through First and Ten, the Browns are the only NFL club to promote a long-term volunteer program that unifies the team and its entire fanbase, with the goal of impacting every individual's city across the globe, as well as the franchise's local community.

Through First and Ten, the Browns annually support over 15 local community partners, organizations and non-profits through year-long engagement. Last season, Browns personnel engaged in over 25 unique activations across the Greater Cleveland region through the donation of their time and resources.

"It's really important to show our support for our neighbors in the community and the fans that cheer us on every single year and every single week," Tekancic said. "It's the offseason right now and people are thinking of the upcoming season, but behind the scenes, there's so much work to be done to really make a huge impact in the local community through our Browns Give Back initiatives, focusing on education, youth football and social justice. So, what Summer Blitz does is it brings everything together full circle."