December 3, 2017 – Dozens of Bears players participated in the NFL’s “My Cause, My Cleats” campaign, which allows players to promote charitable causes on their shoes. The cleats are then auctioned off to raise money for the charities. In the excerpt below from The Chicago Tribune, learn why Andrew DePaola chose Bo's Effort as his cause: Bo DePaola loved tie-dye.

So Bears long snapper Andrew DePaola knows when he looks down at his feet covered in the colorful design Sunday, he will think, “Yeah, that’s Bo-man.”

Andrew described his cousin Bo as a bright, loving 20-year-old who also was battling bipolar disorder when he died from an overdose in 2015. Andrew said some of his family didn’t know Bo struggled with mental illness.

“We never talked about it, so when the tragedy happened, it hit us pretty hard and pretty sudden,” DePaola said. “We all were looking for answers, and not just us, but his parents. It was a tough time.”

But out of terrible circumstances, Bo’s parents, John and Jill, have tried to create something good with Bo’s Effort, a charity devoted to erasing the stigma of mental illness through awareness, education and treatment. That also will be Andrew’s aim Sunday — to encourage families to talk to each other about such struggles.



“People don’t really like to talk about it,” DePaola said. “They like to keep it quiet. I’m just trying to get families talking about it, to say, ‘Hey, I have a family member, a loved one with mental illness.’ Don’t hide it. … Get the help you need. Unfortunately my cousin didn’t, and he’s no longer with us. Hopefully we can make an impact and help somebody else who is struggling with mental illness to get the help they need."