Community work of San Francisco 49ers’ Arik Armstead an ‘inspiration’ – San Francisco 49ers Blog

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — On a recent fall day, San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Arik Armstead was penciled in for a quick visit to Sunnydale, one of San Francisco’s largest housing projects.

Ashlei Hurst, the director of resident services at Mercy Housing and a longtime friend of the Armstead family, invited Armstead to tour Sunnydale, which was built in 1940.

What he saw was what he now calls a “lack thereof,” a place full of people in buildings that weren’t suitable for living. He saw police cars driving past with four officers inside armed with shotguns hanging out the window as they cruised the neighborhood.

Armstead was only supposed to stay for about 30 minutes, but he couldn’t just make a cameo appearance. For two and a half hours, Armstead walked around the neighborhood, speaking to residents, business owners and local leaders about what they need and asked how he could help. Quietly, Armstead listened and absorbed his surroundings. He could see the struggle and hear the desperation.

“I saw a community that just has been kind of thrown off by the wayside and kind of a place that’s been forgotten and hasn’t been nourished,” Armstead said. “It was real eye-opening for me. … I don’t know if a lot of people really know about Sunnydale and what’s going on up there. Just seeing the conditions that people are living in and just the lack of a lot. That always inspires me and keeps me going knowing that there’s a lot of work.”

Indeed, for Armstead the work that needs to be done never truly ends. In fact, it’s only beginning. That applies to what he’s doing on the field as one of the Niners’ starting defensive tackles, but there are plenty of significant projects to do off the field as well.

He has the means to help. Armstead is in the second year of a five-year, $85 million contract, and as a former first-round pick…