As they say in the movies, this could be the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Studer Community Institute has been working since 2016 to improve the quality of life in the community by creating tools and projects to help parents understand the importance of healthy early brain development.

We want parents to see the link between the power of talk and interaction to build a health brain and school readiness, particularly important in a community where less than half of our kindergarteners are ready for school, according to state education data.

We think that can be a force of powerful, positive community change from the foundation.

And we always have our eyes open for kindred spirits. We truly have found that in Fred and Tia Robbins.

From the beginning, the Robbins have been part of our signature fundraiser, Light Up Learning, which is hosted by another son of Pensacola with an impressive NFL career, SCI board member Josh Sitton.

Sitton, who won a Super Bowl with the Green Bay Packers, retired in 2019 and has made the early learning mission of SCI a big part of his post-football life.

Robbins, who won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants, has been working in post-football life on Mister Robbins Neighborhood, which he founded with his wife in 2014.

The organization educates area student athletes on having a Plan B beyond football or any athletic venture.  They organization emphasizes the rarity of ever gaining a college scholarship, much less professional contract, so having proper education, direction and life values are essential.

Fred has generously shared his time and talent with us at Light Up Learning throughout the years. This year, he partnered with Josh to host a football camp experience that was auctioned at Light Up Learning for an impressive $8,000.

We are proud to share the proceeds from that item with MRN to help support their work.

“I believe our two ideals and visions are perfectly aligned,” Sitton said. “We are just trying to affect our youth at different stages of their life. Fred and Tia do an amazing job of working with young men and women to fulfill their dreams of graduating college. And ultimately our goals are the same! We are blessed to be able to work with such a great organization like Mister Robbins Neighborhood.

Said Robbins: “Our missions work well together simply because we are reaching our youth early in life into their teenage years and early adulthood.Josh and I are dedicated to doing our part to help build a better community. Being able to work with Light Up Learning is a blessing and will help both program reach our goals of changing lives.”

We want to thank Fred and Tia for blessing us with their friendship and support. We are so proud to be on this journey of community building with them.