Emmanuel Sanders provides sports gear for Kepner Beacon Middle School

Emmanuel Sanders provided sports equipment for students at Kepner Beacon Middle School on Wednesday through his "Emmanuel's Locker" program. Sanders announced the donation in an assembly that featured a question-and-answer session with students.

The locker holds equipment for multiple sports and includes "resources and supplies for student participating in after-school sports who may not have access to some of the sporting equipment they need to participate, and/or succeed in after-school sports programs," as the Emmanuel Sanders Foundation wrote in its press release for the event.

On how hard he had to work for his career"I always have to tell people I didn't just wake up overnight and say, 'Oh, I'm in the NFL.' It's not one of those types of things. It took certain sacrifices that I had to make, in terms of going to sleep when all the rest of my friends were going out, making sure I'm eating right, making sure I'm working out. I always base my career on [three] words, and that's hard work and dedication. … People always wake up and get one hard workout in. Everybody can wake up and study for one day. But the true people who are going to be successful are those who combine hard work and dedication. Dedication is the most important thing with hard work. Dedication is waking up and doing that every single day and maximizing the day. So that's what I try to base my career off of. Today I just got done working out at the Broncos facility. I had a great workout, but my mindset is tomorrow has to be better than today. And that's where the dedication comes in."

On who he looked up to most as a kid"Obviously I've had plenty of role models, but just based on my career and where I'm at, Deion Sanders. How many people know Deion Sanders? [crowd applauds] How many people have role models they can look up to? [much of the crowd raises their hand] Everybody should raise their hand right now. Everybody. And if you don't have one, go and find somebody who makes you say, 'I want to be like that.' So I remember Deion Sanders when he was high-stepping into the end zone, and my last name was Sanders, and I just grew up loving the way that he was making plays on the field, the way that he played the game very passionately. So I tried to mimic everything that he did. And it's crazy, because growing up, I was a 7-year-old kid watching him play and how life progressed with me through hard work and watching this guy and dedicating myself to a certain mentality, I was able to meet him when I was in college and now he's one of my really good friends. So that just shows how far you can go with hard work and dedication."

A select group of students also played a game of volleyball on-stage to decide who would get to cut the ribbon during the dedication ceremony.

The Emmanuel Sanders Foundation says its mission is "to provide children from financially disadvantaged families with resources and support to reach their full potential and attain a better life."

On his reaction to today's assembly "It was awesome. Honestly I didn't know what I was getting myself into. Madison, who runs my foundation, called me up and told me about it. But you never know. Words can never describe the atmosphere that I saw today, seeing these kids so excited about me being here and then being able to give out sports equipment. It was everything that I wanted my foundation to be about. So today was amazing."

On what it means to give back to the community "It means everything. I was that kid that didn't have the necessary resources to be able to play sports or to even be able to have someone to come my school to speak. So it's just an amazing experience. I started my foundation last year, a year and a half ago, and just to see the progess of it and to see it grow, it's just amazing. We've just got to keep doing stuff like this. I've got an event on June 12, the 'Take a Flight with Emmanuel Sanders' [event] in which we're going to be trying to raise money to keep coming to schools like this and keep providing kids with sports equipment and keep doing cool things in the Denver community, because this is what it's about."

On how far the Emmanuel Sanders Foundation and its outreach can go"It can go as far as we want to take it. That's why I'm here talking to the kids, but not only that, reaching out to the Denver community saying, 'Let's all get together and let's keep building upon this because we're only as strong as our weakest link.' That's my mindset."

On what the impact of hearing from a professional athlete can be for a middle-school student"That's why it's amazing. To be able to do this for these kids, to be able to show up and visit the children's hospital and do cool things like that, because I never had an opportunity to see that as a kid. As I grew up and the older I got, I was able to see people. Like I said, the Deion Sanders story of having a role model of that sort, but no, I wasn't [hearing from him]. That's why it's pretty cool that now I can give back and reach back to the Denver community."

On creating success beyond sports"When we're talking about what I wanted to do for my foundation, we were between education and sports. Sports is just my background. That's my field. But in terms of just the whole general population of kids, education is obviously important. I want every single kid to wake up every single morning and say, 'I want to go to college. I want to be someone. I want to be successful,' because that was my mindset. That's what I try to instill in every single kid of wanting to be better and wanting to go to college and wanting to get good grades and listening to your parents and listening to your teachers. I've got a philosophy because I'm passionate about what I do and obviously I want to save everybody. You can't save everybody, but if one or two kids are inspired by what I said today and better themselves, then, hey, my job is done. That's my mindset."

The Emmanuel Sanders Foundation also says "Emmanuel's Locker provides financially disadvantaged students with sporting equipment as well as resources and supplies for students participating in after-school sports who may not have access to some of the sporting equipment they need to participate, and/or succeed in after-school sports programs."