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Junior Seau Foundation hosts 25th annual Shop with a Jock event

Participating athletes and children shopped for holiday gifts at Target Mission Valley using $100 gift cards from the foundation.

SAN DIEGO — The Junior Seau Foundation hosted its 25th annual Shop with a Jock event Tuesday to help local underprivileged children buy gifts for their friends and family.

The event paired professional and collegiate athletes from local teams like the San Diego Padres, Sockers, Gulls and San Diego State University Aztecs with 200 children from the Boys and Girls Clubs of Greater San Diego. Participating athletes and children shopped for holiday gifts at Target Mission Valley using $100 gift cards from the foundation.

RELATED: Remembering San Diego native and football great Junior Seau

"This event was very special to Junior and continues to be for his board members," JSF President Jay Kawano said. "The goal of this event is to teach the kids of San Diego the gift of giving rather than receiving."

Seau, a native of Oceanside, played as a linebacker in the NFL for 20 seasons, including 13 with the then-San Diego Chargers from 1990 to 2002. He established the foundation in 1992 to help local youth programs and started the Shop with a Jock event in 1994. The foundation has worked to continue Seau's legacy since he committed suicide in 2012.

Shop with a Jock also included a dinner party for the participating athletes and children.

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