UNM football players help nonprofit move to new location

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A local clothing bank got some serious muscle to help out Saturday with a big move. Locker 505 has served about 12,000 students since 2014, and now they’re expanding.

The UNM football team wasn’t tackling any players on the field Saturday morning, but they were tackling a big move by helping Locker 505 move to a new location.

“It’s very exciting where it’s a larger space for us, which allows us to serve more students,” said Kim Kerschen. 

But to move to that new space, the nonprofit needed a lot of help.

“We all wanted to be here to show up to help out, but it’s crazy to have the whole team here,” said Luke Wysong, UNM football player. 

Almost a hundred football players from UNM lifted boxes instead of weights.

“Anything we can do to help our community, I mean Locker 505 is a great cause. And it’s- we’re a part of the community. I mean, the majority of these guys that we bring in from other places, they become community members forever,” said Danny Gonzales, UNM football coach. 

“We’re all team working right now trying to get these boxes moved. We’re trying to get our team camaraderie together, this is one way we can do that,” Wysong said. 

This big move means Locker 505 will be able to help even more students. They’ll expand outside Bernalillo County to help kids in Valencia, Sandoval and Torrance County.

“We will have our open house on July 9. So we’re going to have about a month that will take us to put everything away and get set up and ready to go. And then we’ll be back at it serving kids,” said Wysong. 

Because the need is only growing. Locker 505 saw 500 more students this past school year, totaling 2,000 kids, and you can help.

“Look at our website for places to drop off clothes until we reopen, cause right now taking donations and trying to move and reorganize is a little difficult,” Wysong said. 

And thanks to all the players, they’ll get things done a lot faster.

“I think we’ve got a good group, somebody that the community can be proud of. And if we played it on Saturdays they’ll be really proud,” said Gonzales. 

Once open, the new location will be at San Pedro and Menaul.

Click here for more information on how you can help Locker 505.