It was a raucous occasion on a recent Tuesday afternoon at PS 306 in Brooklyn even before Jets Chairman and CEO, Woody Johnson, announced to a packed auditorium, "I have something for you." Brooklyn Bureau of Community Service (BBCS) Executive Director Donna Santarsiero and Gary Klinsky Children's Centers' founder Steve Klinsky were presented with an oversized check for $50,000 by Woody Johnson and Club President Jay Cross. The enthusiasm of the audience, children and grown-ups alike, was palpable.

The check presentation marked the formal kick-off of the Jets Academy, the new collaborative after-school education initiative between the Brooklyn Bureau's Gary Klinsky Children's Centers and the New York Jets. Like all the Klinsky Centers, the Jets Academy will offer elementary school children a supportive and enjoyable after-school program in which they can improve their reading and math skills while participating in creative and fun activities that foster academic growth, community awareness and improved self esteem. Students attend daily from 3-6 pm throughout the school year.

Earlier that afternoon, Jets linebacker James Darling and fullback Jerald Sowell visited some of the after-school program classrooms, answering questions and reading short stories to students gathered there.

The first Jets Academy, located in the existing Klinsky program at PS 306 in East New York, serves 250 children daily in 10 classrooms. The Jets plan to establish other Jets Academies throughout the New York Metropolitan region.