TAMPA, Fla. — One of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' newest superstars made a major announcement Tuesday about what he’s doing in the Tampa community.


What You Need To Know



It all started with a fire at Blake High School on May 16. School principal Jesse Salters said the fire destroyed at least $25,000 worth of sports equipment in a storage shed.

“There was a lot of football equipment, soccer equipment, all of the sports teams that utilize the football field a lot of their equipment was in there, soccer nets, blocking dummies, flags, markers,” said Salters.

Salters shared a picture with us that he took the morning after the fire. Moments after he took that photo, he received an email from three-time Super Bowl champion and new Tampa Bay Buccaneer tight end Rob Gronkowski, asking how he could help.

On Tuesday afternoon, Gronk announced in an Instagram video just how he plans to help.

“Hey everyone. Last week we heard about an unfortunate incident in Tampa where a fire burned down a high school storage shed full of their team’s football equipment. Sadly, they lost it all,” Gronkowski said at the start of the video.

He went on to say that once he heard about the shed fire, he felt he couldn't stay silent.

“The Gronk Nation Youth Foundation and my new team, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, are all about helping youth reach their full potential,” he said. “So we’re going to do just that. To the Blake High School Yellowjackets, you’re getting a brand new storage unit and new football equipment to replace everything that was lost.”

Salters said it was a surprise and he hopes Gronk’s act of kindness serves as a lesson to the school's student athletes.
 
Gronk ended the video saying he would see the Blake High School football players soon.