VIDEO: Former NFLer Ray Rice, Wife Donate Uniforms to Cheerleaders

Editor’s Note: Patch is re-running this popular story in case you missed it the first time around.

New Rochelle native Ray Rice and his wife, Janay, recently donated new uniforms to young cheerleaders in Baltimore, reports The Baltimore Sun.

Rice, the former NFL running back was filmed beating his then-fiancee a couple of years ago, was cut by Baltimore Ravens and suspended by the NFL, and he has yet to catch on with another team. But he still holds out hope for a comeback, and he still tries to help his former community.

The uniforms are for the cheerleaders of the youth football team, the Southwest Seminoles, who play in a revitalized park in Baltimore that was once a haven for drug dealing and other crimes. Janay Rice helped design the new cheerleader uniforms, and the couple presented them to the youngsters at an event Wednesday.

“We wanted to give these little girls something to look forward to,” Ray Rice told The Sun. “It was a no-brainer. I still want to be attached to the Baltimore community.”

Rice continues to work out in hopes of signing with an NFL team this season, but time is running out as the season approaches the midway point.

He still has supporters who also hope he returns to the NFL.

“Him coming back after all he’s been through, it means a lot to this community — a high-poverty community,” Shanell Adams, a substitute teacher and recreational aide, told The Sun. “I never stopped believing in Ray Rice. I’m still a fan. I’m still wishing that he would get on another team. Who am I to judge? Everybody makes mistakes.”

Click here to read the full story on The Baltimore Sun website.

Patch file photo of Ray Rice.