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New Orleans Saints continue building chemistry and community in offseason

"We compete in everything that we do, but we've also got to spend time connecting"

Jun 02, 2026 at 01:53 PM

Senior Writer

New Orleans Saints players, coaches, and staff teamed up with Rebuilding Together New Orleans and The 18th Ward to help refurbish Trinity Community Center in the Hollygrove neighborhood in New Orleans on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.

They couldn't have been more smudged with dirt, sweat-soaked or mindful of proper hydration if they'd been on the outside practice field Tuesday at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center in Metairie.

But for the second straight year, one of the New Orleans Saints' off-campus team building and bonding activities occurred doing interior facility improvement and outdoor beautification at the Trinity Community Center in the Hollygrove community of New Orleans. The workload for Saints players, coaches and staff included pushing supply-loaded wheelbarrows, lugging bags of mulch, smoothing soil and painting an interior portion of Trinity, which is managed by The 18^th Ward, a nonprofit founded in 2019.

The improvements and additions from last year easily were identifiable, including areas to play street hockey, soccer and basketball outside.

"It means a lot to have them back in our neighborhood, in Hollygrove," said Lowrey Crews, founder and CEO of The 18^th Ward. "Every day after school, kids from Hollygrove come here and get snacks, homework help. There's this big, beautiful, safe space to play and they get a meal to go home with.

"The Saints have turned this building from a neglected facility since (Hurricane) Katrina to a thriving community center. We have nonprofit office space upstairs – the Saints painted those rooms last year. We have activity space for young people on the bottom floor. And this has been a collective effort; from other nonprofits chipping in like HandsOn New Orleans, Rebuilding Together New Orleans and then a lot of our corporate sponsors like Ochsner."

Players who participated last year were impressed with the transformation, and proud to be a part of it.

"It was a vision last year, (and) we're just happy to be a part of that," right guard Cesar Ruiz said. "Coming back and seeing it a year later is special, because it looks completely different. There's work that we did and then on top of the work we did, there's a lot more that went into it. Overall, it looks great.

"I've always been an advocate of, you can give back with your pockets but it means a lot more when people see you. When people see you out here working it gives you a sense of a connection with everybody. 'I'm going to come out here and I'm going to get my hands dirty and I'm going to help the community out.' I think that's really important, I think that's really what it's all about. You see us on TV, but you see us out here – it's humbling. You come out here, you want to do good things for the community, get our hands dirty."

The benefit runs both ways, Saints Coach Kellen Moore said. There's pride taken in serving the community, and opportunity presented for teammates to bond.

"We compete in everything that we do, but we've also got to spend time connecting," Moore said. "When we get to training camp it's going to get busy, there's going to be a lot of football and that's where the physical component of our game really gets tested. So we've got to take advantage of that opportunity, but this is a great opportunity to connect.

"I think any time you get a chance to connect, do something for the common good of the group or an organization, I think it's a great opportunity. These are awesome. We get to spend time together, not always in the same football environment but take us out of that environment and do something different."

Doing something different puts the Saints in position to make a difference.

"We believe our kids deserve the best whether or not they can afford it," Crews said. "And so, for our kids to walk in to the space inside where the Saints painted it and see their autographs and jerseys on the wall, and to walk outside and see new plants and new playground and new play structures, they start to believe in themselves just like we believe in them.

"The neighbors just appreciate the investment. There's not a lot of traffic in this neighborhood, so for the Saints to come from the facility here, their presence means a lot. People are coming together to do the right thing for our children."

Khai Harley

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New Orleans Saints players, coaches, and staff teamed up with Rebuilding Together New Orleans and The 18th Ward to help refurbish Trinity Community Center in the Hollygrove neighborhood in New Orleans on Tuesday, June 2, 2026.