Larry Fitzgerald Jr., a Paradise Valley resident and Bell Bank Champion, joined the long-standing financial institution to take 50 kids from iCAN on a $100 shopping spree and dinner on Monday, July 31.

iCAN is a nationally recognized youth development program. The children, who are in second through sixth grades, were treated to the shopping spree at Going, Going, Gone located inside the Arizona Mills Mall in Tempe, according to a press release.

All of the children are part of iCAN’s out-of-school time prevention programming that is offered free to kids and teaches vulnerable youth some real-life skills including goal setting, positive decision making and how to avoid risky behaviors.

“This was an incredible treat and really a special afternoon,” Kyle Kennedy, Bell Bank’s Phoenix president and Arizona banking director, said in the release. “Not only did we get to take 50 amazing, smart and energetic kids on a fun shopping spree, but to do it alongside a superstar like Larry Fitzgerald, we couldn’t have asked for a better partner. Seeing the kids’ faces light up when they were shopping alongside one of football’s greatest stars was really something special,”

As a Bell Bank Champion, Fitzgerald is featured in Bell Bank’s advertising and social media, and provides exclusive experiences for Bell Bank customers and connects with the bank in paying it forward through charitable work in the community, according to the release.

“Bell Bank has been somebody who I can truly rely on. They are always making their presence felt in the community. To be able to have partners like that and see these smiles of these young people, it makes you feel like what you’re trying to do is worthwhile,” Fitzgerald stated.