Jake Gervase and other former Iowa football stars raising money for pediatric cancer at Rally for Reid camp in Davenport

DAVENPORT, Iowa (KWQC) - Jake Gervase is coming off his best season in the NFL.

“It was actually the only year where I made the active roster to start the season, I was dressed and playing in every single game” said the former Assumption and Iowa football star.

Despite the success, Gervase is unsure of his future.

“Currently, I’m unemployed actually, my contract was up, I finished my fourth year with the LA Rams, and as of now they haven’t signed me back so currently a free agent. This is almost the hungriest I’ve been during an offseason because I for sure know I can do it, I know I can add value to a team.”

Gervase doesn’t where he’ll be next season

“It’s definitely a stressful time just not knowing if things are gonna work out”.

He does know where he’ll be on June 23rd.

“It’s crazy Hailey my wife and I are trying to plan the logistics of getting back to Iowa and it’s kind of hard to do right now coming from Austin Texas because I could get signed to a team in New York tomorrow.”

Gervase will be back in Davenport for the 3rd Annual Rally for Reid Football and Spirit Camp raising money in honor of Reid Gleeson who passed away from brain cancer at age five.

“I do it for a couple reasons, the first reason is just in memory of Reid, got the chance to form a good relationship with him and his family and you know he was taken from us too soon this is kind of a way to keep his name alive and in everybody’s memory and the 2nd reason is to help other families in the fight against pediatric cancer”.

Gervase helps Reid’s mother Megan plan the camp.

“He’s super involved in the planning we’re texting back and forth quite frequently just we added a silent auction last year so that’s a lot of extra time for him” said Megan.

Gervase also puts together a coaching staff of former Iowa stars to come to Davenport to teach campers football fundamentals

Josey Jewell, he wasn’t able to make it last year, he’ll be back. Ben Niemann and Parker Hesse who helped me a lot and have been at the camp the previous two years are a couple guys making the trip back. We got some new coaches, I went after some old guys some local guys, we got Pat Angerer who’s gonna commit and be at the camp the entire day, he popped by last year but he’ll be an official camp coach this year and Julian Vandervelde so it should be a lot of fun I think I’ve got 15 other guys former teammates, Iowa Hawkeyes, a bunch of guys who are currently playing in the NFL” said Gervase.

Career wise it may be a stressful time for Gervase, but this former Super Bowl Champion, will always have time to be a champion to the Rally for Reid Foundation.

“It’s just incredible, I’m just really grateful for him and the effort that he puts into this camp” said Gleeson.

In just two years, the camp has raised over 150 thousand dollars for the Rally for Reid Foundation supporting children and families impacted by childhood cancer.

“You know it just means everything, everything to us, we interact with so many families that are going through similar journeys and and to be able to help pay for a mortgage payment for them or to send a care package to them or now we have a hotel program. To be able to provide those things that were important to us or were things that we thought were really needed during our journey with pediatric cancer, it’s just incredible” said Gleeson.

Raising funds and raising awareness.

“One of our big goals as a foundation is to spread awareness for the lack of funding for pediatric brain cancers. It’s the number one disease related killer of kids” said Gleeson.

Making it in the NFL requires incredible strength and mental toughness.

“The NFL is a pretty ruthless business and even if you feel you deserve to be on a team sometimes it doesn’t work out” said Gervase.

Deep in the heart of Jake Gervase, is the spirit of the toughest boy he’s ever known.

“His passing really put things in perspective for me personally.”

For more information on Rally for Reid just click here.

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