Berwyn Restaurant Owner Donating Game Day Meals to State Champion Wendell Phillips Football Team

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A Berwyn restaurant owner plans to feed the State Champion Wendell Phillips High School football team for the upcoming season.

WBBM's Mike Krauser reports that Bob Lattas, owner of Novi's Beef in Berwyn, heard about how the Wendell Phillips football team was raising money for pregame meals with a GoFundMe page and, because he remembers being in the same position, he decided to help.

"My parents were immigrants to this country from Greece after World War II," Lattas told WBBM Radio. "We had food, but not a lot of food. And so, when I heard the story about these kids not even being able to get a pre-game meal from anybody, my heart sank pretty significantly."

So he reached out to coach Troy McAllister.

"My first thought was a little bit of shock," McAllister said. "To talk to Bob and hear what he had to say, it was such a generous donation he's coming forth with."

Their pregame meal, McAllister said, is an important part of the program.

"We really preach family in our program, and that team meal is a big component of that," he said. "When you break bread together, it just adds another dimension."

Add to that, not all the players' families have the means for three meals a day.

And that's where Laddis stepped in, recalling his younger days.

"I remember that it wasn't a good position to be in," Lattas said. "You know, when you're at lunch with your friends or whatever and you see that their parents have packed them with a lunch full of different things, and you have mainly a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich. So I can just envision these kids going to play on the field hungry. No kids should go hungry in life. Period."

So he decided to provide the meals. Lattas said he figured the team would be hungry before and after the games, so he's feeding the whole team before and after each game for the coming season.

McAllister says he appreciates the generosity.