This Former Football Player Takes Students On Food Tours In NYC To Expand Their Palates

This story feeds our souls!

As you all know, Rachael is one very generous gal, especially when it comes to giving back to kids.

So it's no surprise that she loves former football player Matt James' new project!

As Matt tells it, one day, he was leaving his favorite restaurant in Manhattan's Lower East Side, Bob White's, when he passed P.S. 188, the school literally across the street. The kids started teasing him about his high-waisted shorts, so he started talking with them, and found out that they'd never been to Bob's.

Or, for that matter, many other restaurants, either.

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Many of the children in the area face economic challenges, which means that a lunch or dinner out is a rarity.

That's when Matt got inspired. 

He called the kids' principal and asked if he could take a group of students out for the day to a few of his favorite local restaurants.

And that's how his program, ABC Food Tours, was born.

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"What I'm hoping to see from these kids is that this experience changes the way they think about their community," Matt says. "They're able to surround themselves with entrepreneurs, who come from just as humble beginnings as they do… If I can get them to open up their minds to what's out there in their community, that's what we're trying to do."

And open up their stomachs, too!

Which is where Rachael comes in. She was so inspired to hear Matt's story, she decided to go ahead and set up his next lineup: meat at her good friend Josh Capon's Bowery Meat Company, dim sum at Tim Ho Wan, and sushi at Blue Ribbon Sushi Izakaya.

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Sounds like a FEAST to us! 

And Matt was clearly moved by the gesture.

Watch the video above for the whole sweet story!