Former New England Patriots wide receiver Cedric Jones is the headliner at an annual charity breakfast Thursday, benefiting Stamford-based charity Kids Helping Kids.

Jones spent nine seasons in the NFL during the 80s and also played in a Super Bowl with New England.

"The young people are our future," said Jones. "An organization similar to this helped me when I was a young person so, I want to do everything I can to make sure they reach their goals in life."

Kids Helping Kids was founded in 2009 and focuses on having local kids develop leadership skills by having them create, plan, and then lead their own community service projects, which are aimed at helping other kids around Fairfield County.

"It offers kids in the area a chance to really see themselves as leaders, to recognize your inherited value and their worth to really make a difference in someone's life," explained Jennifer Bentley, the program's executive director.

To date, Kids Helping Kids says its youth volunteers have completed over 1,000 projects, which have helped more than 65-thousand kids.

"It's actually incredible, Kids Helping Kids makes you genuinely love having a social impact," said Biyeni Eusebio, an alum of the program. "Having that responsibility at such a young age is really like so encouraging and makes you confident in the things that you can achieve, not only at that young age, but in the future."

For Jones, who now works as the athletic director at the Brunswick School in Greenwich, and is around kids a lot, it is a message he thinks can go a long way in the area.

"I think there's tremendous power in that - the young people mentor each other, feed off each other, and then develop programming that can help them with their life goals and dreams," he said.

All the money raised from the breakfast and the auction there goes to support Kids Helping Kids.