The Chargers spent Tuesday night in Charlotte giving back to the local community.
Center Bradley Bozeman, who joined the Bolts this offseason, spent the past two seasons with the Panthers and made an indelible impact in Carolina.
With the Chargers in town for the week, Bozeman kept up the good work by recruiting dozens of teammates, coaches and staff or a food packing event at the Second Harvest Food Bank.
"It's so amazing, all the guys came out to support … I feel so supported and so loved," Bozeman said. "I can't thank them enough for coming out."
Bozeman later added: "Just knowing they have my back and support us, it's so great. We're so blessed."
Kay Carter, the CEO of Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina, said her group jumped at the chance to work with Bozeman and his wife, Nikki, again.
"They wanted to pack so we were like, 'Heck yeah, let's do it.' We're super excited to have the team and Coach Harbaugh, but we were just super excited to see Bradley," Carter said.
With Harbaugh and Chargers GM Joe Hortiz lending a hand, the Chargers crew packed 1,500 boxes in an apparent record time of 26 minutes.
"It's the fastest we've ever done," Bozeman said. "We're setting records everywhere."
Carter added: "I think Coach Harbaugh's table won."
The boxes were packed with a milk box, canned ravioli, pudding, fruit snacks, cereal, Pop-Tarts, a fruit cup, animal crackers, Cheez-Its.
The SYNC snack boxes (SYNC stands for Serving Your Neighbors and Communities) will be delivered to local law enforcement, which are then distributed to children living in underserved communities.
Each box also contains multiple QR codes to educational resources, leadership and healthy lifestyle programming. Some of the codes also direct children to the Bozeman Foundation's online library of anti-bullying, diversity, and inclusion video messaging.
"These go out with law enforcement and social workers that have to deal with children who are sometimes in really tough situations," Carter said. "Having a box of stuff that kids like, it's a good way to get kids to talk or relax in what might be a tough time for them."
According to Bozeman, his foundation has served more than 3.5 million meals since being established in 2018.
"It's been an amazing program for us," Bozeman said.
Besides Harbaugh and Hortiz, more than three dozen Chargers players and coaches showed up.
The group included Khalil Mack, Joey Bosa, Cameron Dicker and nearly all of Bozeman's offensive linemates.
"It was awesome. I felt like we got kind of competitive packing the boxes for the families and the kids," Zion Johnson said. "It's an awesome thing to be able to do, not only for Boze' but for the community.
"I know a lot of us players, we're from communities that needs things like this, too," Johnson said. "It was good to have that impact and we really appreciate Boze' giving us the opportunity to come out here and help."
Carter said Bozeman, a three-time nominee for the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, is sorely missed in Charlotte.
"We love Bradley and cried a lot of tears when he left," Carter added. "But he seems like he's found a good home with the Chargers."
Carter later added: "He and Nikki are just great people. Our loss was definitely LA's gain."
