New Orleans Saints linebacker Demario Davis has teamed up with Stand Together for this year’s NFL’s My Cause My Cleats campaign with the hope of bringing attention to Stand Together’s mission as a philanthropic community that helps America’s boldest changemakers tackle the root causes of the country’s biggest problems by providing our partners with access to resources including funding, a unique network of peers, and a playbook for applying proven principles to transform lives and society.
Davis, Stand Together and the NFL have come together to unlock the strength in communities and drive change from the ground up, after Davis was originally drawn to Stand Together through their shared commitment to transforming the one-size-fits-all education system. Through his Devoted Dreamers Academy which is supported by Stand Together’s holistic philanthropic community, Davis is investing in youth development and leadership to equip the next generation with the tools to thrive spiritually, mentally, and physically, both on and off the field.
Last week, I had the opportunity to chat with Davis about his cleats, partnering with Stand Together, his foundation, love of our community and more.
TH: The My Cause, My Cleats campaign is getting ready to start, and you’ve chosen to team up with Stand Together. So, I just wanted to find out why you decided to partner with them and tell us about the attention you’re trying to bring to their cause and about your custom cleats.
DD: Absolutely, we’re honored to talk about the partnership that we have with stand together, and why I chose them. Because standing together is a community of change makers. They are like-minded with us. We believe in that the best solutions are people in the community that are doing the work. The people who are closest to the
problems are the closest to the solutions, and they feel the same way, and their model is essentially to identify these leaders and changemakers and these models of change and to empower them to help catalyze them, to help them accelerate growth, help scale them and use them as replicas in other communities. And so, they’re currently working with over 350 organizations in around 600 communities around the country, and we’re one
of those. I wanted it to not only highlight the work that we were doing, but also to highlight so many incredible people throughout the nation that are doing and creating change, and to let people know that there’s a wave of change that’s happening in our country, and there’s a lot to be proud of and a lot to be a part of and really call people into the game. And so, it’s been a blessing to be able to highlight how I stand together with the work that they’re doing in our nation, and to be a part of that work.
TH: Did you help design the cleats? Can you tell us a little bit about them?
DD: So, Miss Sandy, who does a lot of our cleats and has been doing cleats for the Saints for years and does an incredible job. She actually did design for me last year is well. What you’ll see that is unique about my cleats, is they have the whole United States on the cleats. What you’ll see are these dots that are all throughout the states and what those dots represent is the community changemakers that exist throughout the nation, and we want people to identify and see themselves as one of those dots. As we know, change doesn’t just happen with a few people or with some of us, but it takes all of us, and what we want to do is people to be able to see those dots that exist throughout the country and see themselves as one of those dots. And if they’re not currently participating in change or reform around them and in the communities that they live in, then hopefully they’ll get off the bench and get in the game. So that was the premise of our cleats, and I’m really excited to unveil those and have people be excited to be a part of the way of change that’s happening across our country.
TH: I love the concept and the inspiration for that. It’s very creative. So, you have been extremely busy this year, not just on the field but off the field. It started back in February, obviously, with the Super Bowl in New Orleans.You co-hosted a fundraiser with Lauren Daigle, which we had chatted about back then. You just hosted an event through your foundation, Dining for Dreams last month. You also launched a partnership with 18th Ward. So, I wanted to kind of just talk about that and follow up, as it was a six-week program, so I guess you’ve just gotten through that. How are those programs going and what has been your inspiration to start these programs here in New Orleans and help our community?
DD: So, the heart of what we do, and our North Star, is always equipping the next generation of leaders, so important to the next generation to make sure that they have all the resources that they need to reach their dreams. But at the same time, it’s always to touch and impact communities that that we serve in. And so that’s where you got a chance to see the Lauren Daigle concert around the Super Bowl. We‘ve gotten a chance to do our annual gala that just passed, where we were able to raise close to a couple hundred thousand dollars and we have our Dining for Dreams. We also had a micro grant program where we got a chance to support small businesses. So, it’s just about to be able to serve the community that we live in. But what we’re really excited about is our partnership with 18th Ward, because that really gives us the chance to accelerate the work that we’re doing around young people. We did a leadership program, which essentially, we got a chance to train the coaches that gave us like a double impact, because we got a chance to serve the people who are going to serve the kids. And that’s something that we’re really identifying, is a unique model for us, is to coach the coaches. So, we had about, I think, somewhere between 25 and 50 coaches get a chance to participate in our program, and we walk them through our five team models of student stewardship, and which is pretty much a curriculum designed to help
leaders understand the better that they steward themselves and the resources that they have, the better that they can help, you know, steward and champion those that they are serving. So, we got a chance to really pour into them. We’re really getting a chance to expand our work with 18th Ward. They have brought us home to be official ambassadors of their program, and they do great work all throughout the city, impacting thousands and thousands of kids each year with their programming. So, we’re going to really get a chance to partner with them and help scale some of the work. We have some really exciting things kind of coming down the pipeline that people will be able to hear about very soon. So, it’s been great, all the different partnerships and relationships that we have throughout New Orleans It’s a community that’s built on resilience. It’s built on people working together. It’s built on people supporting each other, and they just be a part of all of that work has been great, yeah.
TH: Just listening to you, you’re one of the most inspirational speakers I’ve ever heard in this line of work. I’ve met a lot of different people, not just sports related and just listening to you in post-game pressers, sometimes I feel like you’re talking to me directly with some of the messages that you have given. So, I kind of know the answer to this but want to dive into it more. Where do you get that inspiration? Obviously with the team, they’ve only won two games this season and it’s a rebuild year, so it’s to be expected because there’s a lot of changes that have happened. It’s not going to happen all overnight; it’s kind of like puzzle pieces. Everything’s got to come together at the right time and click. So, where do you get your inspiration? To be a motivator, just not on the field, but also in the locker room, to keep the vibes up and keep the younger players feeling optimistic.
DD: Yeah, I think I share with them a lot that I think my life kind of built me to be ready for these type moments and when you go through adversity, because a lot of the best moments that I’ve had in life have come from, you know, the hardest seasons of life, and so I know what’s on the other side is always greater than what I’m going through. So, it makes me appreciate the storm even more, because I know what it’s producing. And so
that’s where a lot of it comes from. Now, it doesn’t make it easy to endure, but it gives you a why you’re enduring, and it gives you perspective. And I think what I try to do is use that perspective to help others and to lift them up and to let them know what we represent, and remind them that, you know, football is great game and is very
entertaining. It’s the most watched thing in our nation, and all these different things, but at the end of the day, it’s still just football. So, you lost eight out of 10 games. That’s really challenging, you know. But it’s people out here that are really dealing with stuff, people who are losing loved ones, people who have gotten a sickness diagnosis and they don’t know what they’re going to do. People who are really behind on their bills, and they don’t know how they’re going to kind of get through that. Things going on with their children and their concern, things going on in people’s marriages, like people are dealing with real life, and they don’t know what’s
going to happen if this doesn’t, you know, change. So, they’re really in darkness. And I think when people are able to look at us and see us going through a whole hard time but we’re still persevering, and we’re still showing up, and we still have a positive mindset, like we’re going to overcome like that influences them, that that gives them hope in their situation. Like, if this person is going through this, and they’re sticking it out, and they’re riding it out, like, maybe I can go a little bit further too. And so I think that’s what influence is. And you know, kind of being someone to look to is like, we don’t just want to be, the people that look to when we’re doing good, we’re also able to be looked to when things aren’t going the way we want to.
TH: As someone was born and raised here, you’re truly making a difference in our community, and we sincerely appreciate everything you do on and off the field but turning the attention to football. I have to ask a football related question because our readers want to know as you are a fan favorite. Unfortunately, this is your last year under contract with the Saints at the moment. You’re going to be 37 in January but you’re still playing at an extremely high rate for 37, which is not old at all, by no means. But in football, you tend to usually see a drop off at this point. But you’re in the top three, top five, in a lot of categories at your position, and obviously everybody’s hoping that you’re going to remain here. So, do you have plans to retire? Do you want to stay with the team a few more years or do you want to focus on the off the field endeavors that you’ve been doing. What are your plans, post football?
DD: Yeah, I just take it one at a time. I always tell people I’m on a one-year contract with the Lord, and so I’ll see, see what he does, what he says. We re-evaluate every offseason. This season is where my focus has really been, and it’s really in the moment, and I think that it’s been a challenging season from a team standpoint, but I think in those moments, that’s where you really get a chance to shine. I have a quote that was on my locker in college that said, you learn a lot about a person and how they win, but you learn everything about a person and how they lose. And so, I think that adversity is great teacher, but it’s also a great moment to shine light in the darkness. And I think that’s how I try to show up. And I think because I’ve kept that perspective, it’s allowed me to have one of the best seasons that I’ve had in my career to date. And so, I’m excited about that, and just looking forward to continuing to play really good football, and then at the end of the season, then we’ll see what’s next. I can’t speak that far out, but I am really excited about where I am as an individual, where the team is going. I think there’s a great foundation laid, but I also am excited about a lot of things that are happening outside of football as well, and so I’m blessed to be in that position to be able to know that there are so many different ways that it can go that will all potentially being my favorite.
Thank you again to Demario for taking the time to chat with me. You can check out his custom Stand Together cleats during the New Orleans Saints’ home game against the Atlanta Falcons on Sunday, November 23rd in Caesars Superdome.
To learn more about Stand Together, please visit Stand Together | A Philanthropic Community
To learn more about Devoted Dreamers, please visit Home | Devoted Dreamers