Punter Tress Way entered the Washington Redskins locker room and saw long snapper, and former California long snapper, Nick Sundberg surrounded by some of the rookies on the team.
 
Sundberg wasn't going over the playbook with them. He was showing them how to do their taxes.
 
Not surprised at all by Sundberg's generosity, Way described Sundberg as a person who is always looking to help somebody else.
 


Sundberg, who served as the Golden Bears' long snapper in every game of his collegiate career from 2005-08, decided to start an initiative to help schools in the Washington, D.C., area with his Loads of Love Laundry Center program last August.
 
The program, operated by the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation, aims to supply schools and non-profits with everything they need to create a laundry center. Sundberg's wife, Flor, discovered a study that found that after Whirlpool supplied schools in California and Missouri with washer and dryers, attendance rates and grades improved because the children had clean clothes to wear.
 
The Sundbergs viewed this as a relatively easy solution to a major problem in the United States, and they were aware of schools in the D.C. area where graduation rates are poor.
 
"We were thinking, how can the solution to this problem be so simple, and how can this program not be offered everywhere?," Sundberg said. "We printed the article out and I went into our charitable relations department, dropped it on their desk and told them that I'd love to fund a project like this."
 
Jane Rodgers, Executive Director of the Redskins' Charitable Foundation, said the team was very intrigued about the concept and excited to work with Sundberg on the project.
 
"Nick is a great guy, and he doesn't do anything part-way," Rodgers said. "I have a real sense of how passionate he is about the work that he does on and off the field. While many people will come to you with an idea, very few people will come to you, not only with an idea, but with money to help get that started. Nick had an idea, put his money where his mouth was and helped us get this thing off the ground. That was pretty significant."
 
In the first year of the project, Sundberg provided funding for three schools in the Washington, D.C., area to be equipped with washers and dryers. While it's still too soon to see the attendance and grade results, his work is being appreciated. At the Washington Redskins Foundation's annual charity golf tournament during the offseason, $250,000 of the proceeds went toward Loads of Love.


 
The Foundation recently collaborated with Deloitte Consulting to create an online grant application and outcome measurement tool to help manage this large-scale initiative. Using the $250,000 received, the Foundation launched an online competitive grant application last May. The grant application closed on July 21 with 68 organizations requesting funding to launch an LOL center.
 
As Flor Sundberg put it, she and Nick have "moved a mountain in a year."
 
"He's so passionate," Flor said. "I may have started the idea, but he's really the catalyst. He brought the idea to the right people, and he's been so determined. If not for his initial pledge of money to start the project, I don't know if it would have gotten off the ground. He's been diligent about following up with them, asking the right questions and moving this project forward. I'm very impressed and so proud of him."
 
Giving back to the community is nothing new for Sundberg. When he attended North Canyon High School in Phoenix, his football coach, local fire chief Brian Cole, took the team around on ride-alongs, and they also picked up garbage from the streets in the area. While playing at Cal, he went with the team on the trips to San Quentin prison to help motivate and inspire the young kids they met.
 
This isn't the first community service endeavor that he and his wife have shared. Nick and Flor, who met at Cal, drove to Mexico during their time in college and helped build a house in Tijuana with a local church. They also made trips to middle schools in Richmond and spoke to children on multiple occasions.
 
When Sundberg and Flor first started researching Loads of Love, numerous school officials around told them the No. 1 thing on their list of donation requests are washers and dryers, but they never receive them. Sundberg said he couldn't understand how that was possible.
 
"Our biggest message is about people being proactive and asking questions in schools about the needs that they have and what can help change that," Flor Sundberg said. "There are so many needs at schools that are unmet. So our message is for people to see what the schools in their own communities need. There are so many great resources."
 
Loads of Love is growing more and more in the Redskins' locker room. Sundberg's teammates have approached him and asked him how they can start the program in their hometowns.


 
On a larger scale of recognition, Sundberg was also nominated for the NFL's Walter Payton Man of the Year Award.
 
"That was pretty surreal," Sundberg said. "I've paid attention to that award since I got into the NFL. Every year, you hear about the high-profile players like J.J. Watt, so I never thought it was a possibility for me because I don't have my own foundation and I'm not a big name in the NFL. I wasn't expecting it, but I was absolutely honored and very humbled that they would recognize me as somebody who was worthy of that award."
 
Way said he was elated to hear about Sundberg's nomination, not only because of his passion for this charity drive and helping others in general but because of what he means to the Redskins on the field and as a teammate, as well.
 
"He is arguably the most consistent guy in any position that I have ever met in my entire football career," Way said. "He goes in, he takes a beating, he's blocking, he's running down to make a tackle, he's snapping for myself and for (placekicker) Dustin Hopkins and it's the ultimate dangerous job. It's just so cool that when he does something outside of football that he gets recognized for arguably one of the bigger awards and recognitions that you could have in football."

For a position as tough and gritty as long snapper, Sundberg still has offering "Loads of Love" on the forefront of his mind.

For more information on how you can get involved with Loads of Love click here