Okafor Visits Milk Cap Challenge Winners

You wouldn’t think caps off of milk cartons would be worth very much, but for the students at St. Patrick’s Catholic School they turned out to be quite valuable.

Declared as winners of the Charlotte Bobcats/Harris Teeter Milk Cap Challenge, St. Patrick’s received a one-of-kind Bobcats pep rally at their school on Tuesday, April 11.

With the kids gathered in the gym -- many of them decked out in Bobcats gear -- the pep rally got off to a great start as dozens of kids, drawn at random, were awarded Bobcats prizes including T-shirts, pennants and mini-basketballs. The energy continued to intensify as the Bobcats Rally Cats took the floor for a performance. The kids danced in their seats as the Rally Cats danced and tumbled their way across the floor.

The excitement didn’t stop there as Bobcats mascot Rufus Lynx burst onto the stage following chants of, “We want Rufus.”

Rufus entertained the kids by acting out the story of how he became an NBA mascot by believing in himself. He then encouraged the kids to do the same thing.

Finally it was time for what they had all been waiting for -- a visit from a Bobcats player.

“The kids were very excited,” explained St. Patrick’s Principal Angela Montague. “They kept on asking me every day this week, ‘Who’s coming, who’s coming?’ I wouldn’t tell them because I wanted it to be a great surprise!”

The surprise was well worth it, and the kids erupted in cheers as Emeka Okafor walked through the door. Their energy was contagious as he made his way to the front of the room.

“These kids have a lot of energy,” he remarked. “They got me hyped up and pumped me up a little bit. It made it a lot of fun.”

After greeting the kids, the 6-10 forward took a few minutes to share an important message about healthy living.

“Today we were just trying to send a positive message and get these young people to exercise, eat right and form the proper habits while they are young so they can grow up and be healthy adults,” he said.

Okafor explained this message to the kids by talking about how exercise and proper eating is essential for him in his success.

“Exercise and good health affect everybody,” he told them. “If I don’t eat the right things and exercise the right way, I can’t do what I do.”

He also explained to them the importance of eating a good breakfast.

“Make sure you start your day off right,” he said. “I remember when I was a kid, if I didn’t eat breakfast I wasn’t attentive in school.”

After speaking with the students, Okafor joined Mrs. Montague as well as representatives from Harris Teeter on stage for a special check presentation.

As winners of the Milk Cap Challenge, St. Patrick’s School received a $500 donation from the Charlotte Bobcats as part of their Read To Achieve program to be used in their library. They also received a $500 donation from the Dairy Association to be used in their cafeteria.

In addition, each of the milk caps collected were worth five cents. St. Patrick’s School, with just 279 students, collected 8,700 milk caps and beat out 546 other schools to win the contest. As a result, Harris Teeter presented a check to the school for $435.

“They worked really hard to get it with all the milk jug caps they collected,” said Montague of the pep rally.

The kids all also received a Harris Teeter pencil case with school supplies and an Emeka Okafor autograph card following the event.

With all the hard work put in to achieving the goal as well as the excitement of the day, the pep rally along with the messages associated with it are things the students won’t soon forget.

“I think Emeka Okafor is a great role model for the students.” Montague added. “I think the message that he had to eat healthy and exercise was a wonderful for message for students today. We try to promote that here at St. Patrick’s. That message could not be better received than coming from Emeka Okafor.”