A record-breaking year 👏
Thank you #EaglesEverywhere for supporting our @EaglesAutism community! pic.twitter.com/DQjUPoPVM1
— Philadelphia Eagles (@Eagles) May 20, 2023
The Saturday morning rain in Philadelphia didn’t stop the over 4,500 riders, runners, and walkers from participating in the sixth annual Eagles Autism Challenge presented by Lincoln Financial Group.
Eagles Autism Challenge was born out of Chairman and CEO Jeffrey Lurie’s vision in 2018 – autism’s growing prevalence encouraged him to use his platform to inspire change. Since the inaugural event, Eagles Autism Foundation has raised more than $22 million for care and research – a record-breaking $6.2 million (and counting!) came from this year alone and donations through the end of May will increase those totals.
“We created this as our philanthropic priority off the field and with Jeffrey’s vision and support, we don’t have an identity crisis,” said Executive Director of the Eagles Autism Foundation Ryan Hammond.
“We know what we’re doing. We’re taking this responsibility for the now 1 in 36 people affected by autism. This is a meaningful connection to our team on every level – we have more than 25,000 donors this season.”
The event featured the Wawa Classic 30-Mile and Wawa Shorti 10-mile bike rides, the FreedomPay 5k run and Sensory Walk.
A.J. Brown had the biggest scare of the day when a speeding car nearly hit Philadelphia’s All-Pro wide receiver while approaching a stop sign.
Here are highlights and photos of the event.