Payday. It's every honest employee's favorite day of the work week. Those hours you put in are all made worth it by a few (or several) numbers that show up on a check or in your direct deposit notice.
Now, what would it take for you to give your next 10 paychecks away? For Eagles defensive end Chris Long it's educational equality. On Wednesday, Long announced that he was donating the remainder of his 2017 salary -- 10 paychecks -- to a cause that's close to his heart.
"My wife and I have been passionate about education being a gateway for upward mobility and equality," Long told the Associated Press. "I think we can all agree that equity in education can help affect change that we all want to see in this country."
With his donation of his remaining 2017 salary, Long's entire pay for the 2017 season ($1 million in base salary) will be going towards charity -- the 10-year veteran donated his first six checks to scholarships for students in his hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia.
The Super Bowl LI champion first started The Chris Long Foundation in 2015 with goals of tackling causes like clean water, homelessness, military appreciation, and youth in need. The foundation's website provides an interactive experience to make these struggles more personal.
Long's philanthropic journey began after a trip to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in 2013. "When I got to Tanzania, I didn't have any life-changing plans to create a foundation or anything. Honestly, I just wanted to climb the mountain," Long wrote in his essay for *The Players' Tribune*. "I hadn't traveled a ton growing up. I was aware of poverty as we know it in America, but poverty on a scale like I found there struck me."
Long then started the Waterboys -- an organization that unites NFL players with fans to bring life-sustaining well water to east Africa. Waterboys has raised over $250,000 to build wells in Tanzania so far. The NFL recognized his philanthropic efforts and awarded him with the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award in 2015.
Salute to Long and other NFL players for proving that the men who make big plays in between the lines can make even bigger highlights off the gridiron.
