Steelers players deliver air purifiers to Carnegie Boys & Girls Club

A visit from some real, live Pittsburgh Steelers certainly provided a sense of excitement.

So did the prospect of eating hot slices of delicious pizza.

But for youngsters who frequent the Carnegie Boys & Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania, the most enduring aspect of an afternoon of special activities was the delivery of something that will allow them to breathe easier, literally.

Fresh off the Steelers’ season-opening win in Cincinnati, cornerback Levi Wallace and safety Terrell Edmunds accompanied the arrival of air purifiers for the club courtesy of Austin Air Systems. The company is based in Buffalo, where Wallace had played for the Bills.

“It’s important for me, as I grew up with asthma and a lot of allergies, to breathe in a lot of clean air,” he said, acknowledging his use of Austin Air products. “They’ve been a big part of my success on the field. I have one in my apartment right now and one back at my house in Arizona.”

Along with purifiers, he and Edmunds, joined by Steelers practice squad member Elijah Riley, brought boxes of pizza and a stack of Myron Cope’s Terrible Towels for the youngsters on Sept. 13.

“We know that you are such big Steelers fans,” Wallace said, “and we want to support you guys as well as you support us.”

That included hanging out at the Washington Avenue clubhouse to chat, play games and, in general, make new friends.

“They just do so well with the kids,” Sarah Blazincic, Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania corporate and community engagement manager, said. “It’s really awesome, I think, on both ends. The players have just as much fun as the kids do.”

During his time in Buffalo, Wallace worked with Austin on initiatives to help clear the air, so to speak, especially on behalf of young people.

“And so we thought, now that he’s in Pittsburgh, let’s do it again,” Stacy Malesiewski, the company’s director of marketing, said.

An abundance of money is available toward supplying learning institutions with air purifiers.

“We have been an integral part of working with the schools and helping them navigate that process, helping them find out where the funding is and what’s still active. We also offer a faster, easier solution to the bid process,” Malesiewski said. “As an extension of that, we kind of wanted to say, OK, where do these kids after school? How can we bring clean air when they leave the building?”

She and her company also have the goal of spreading awareness about the importance of removing impurities from the air.

“Studies are showing it’s affecting kids. They’re losing IQ points from airborne toxins. It’s affecting their mood, their hormones, other behavior, their attention,” she said. “They’re been directly impacted, cognitively and physically, from these things.”

On a national scale, the presidential administration has launched a Clean Air in Buildings Challenge, encouraging building owners and operators of all types to assess their indoor air quality.

“There’s been a lot of talk over the last several years about ‘sick building syndrome’ and how it’s really contributing to fatigue and brain fog and fibromyalgia, and all these different things that workers are experiencing. So by having clean air in the workplace, it’s helping increase productivity and obviously reducing viral transmission,” Malesiewski said about continuing efforts to mitigate the spread of covid-19 and other airborne illnesses.

The nonprofit Boys & Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania, which has clubhouse locations and partner sites in Allegheny and Somerset counties, provides opportunities for young people to learn, build self-esteem and grow within safe spaces.

“We love to partner with Steelers and any athletes in the community to really brighten these kids’ days. We love to give them the opportunity to attend games, things they might not get to experience normally,” Blazincic said.

Given Wallace’s past involvement with philanthropic efforts, she and other members of her organization considered him to be a natural fit.

“We knew he was in the community in Buffalo, and we wanted to reach out and really form a good partnership with him early on,” she said. “And hopefully, this is the beginning of something good.”

For more information, visit www.bgcwpa.org.