Chicago Bears players, volunteers team up at Greater Chicago Food Depository

CHICAGO - While most of the Chicago Bears enjoyed a rare day off on Tuesday, two Bears players were put to work on another kind of team.

They were among the volunteers helping to end hunger at the Greater Chicago Food Depository.

Even in the massive food bank on Chicago's southwest side, it wasn't hard to spot the Bears defensive end Dominique Robinson and linebacker Tremaine Edmunds. 

They joined a group of volunteers packing apples at the depository. 

"It is so important to have people who are revered in our community stand with us in this mission at a time of incredible need," said Greater Chicago Food Depository CEO Kate Maehr.

Edmunds said despite playing professional sports at the highest level, he's keenly aware of the need for food. 

"The numbers go on and on about families that's not able to have food," Edmunds said. "And just being able to come here and be part of it, just being able to help out on and off the field is something I've always been involved in."

Edmunds even brought along his mother, Cookie, who is proud of the family's tradition of service. 

"A couple times throughout the year, we go to our local food bank and go out and pack up and give food and give back to the community," said Cookie Edmunds. "So he's quite familiar with what he's doing now."

The Greater Chicago Food Depository will process more than 100,000,000 pounds of food this year, serving more than a million people across the Chicago area and they say the need has never been greater. 

"We are the greatest city in the greatest country in the world.," said Maehr. "And yet we still have so many of our neighbors who wake up, and they don't have enough food to eat. But we can change that, and that's what's happening right here today."

The players also got a walking tour of the depository's massive Southwest Side warehouse. 

"Just seeing smiles on people's faces. That's what brings joy in our life," said Edmunds.