Terrance Copper, a former Pam Pack, East Carolina and NFL receiver, loves giving back to his community. He asks for nothing and simply feeds off the excitement his annual NFL camp generates among local youth.

Last week, however, Copper’s former NFL Weekend was extended four days, featured more events and had its best turnout ever. Over 400 kids came out to Washington High School on Saturday to participate in Copper’s football and basketball camps, each participating in a series of drills and learning from the professionals.

“It was awesome. I couldn’t of asked for a better turnout and I couldn’t have asked for a better result,” Copper said.

“(The players) weren’t overwhelmed because a lot of them just love doing stuff for the kids and we all just had a great time. The best thing about it was the kids listened. They were very attentive, always in order. When you have that many kids, as long as everyone is in order, you can handle it. All the kids were awesome.”

The newest edition to the event was “Kidz Night Out,” where dozens of local youth ate dinner with the players at a new venue every night. And the numbers only grew each day. Monday’s dinner at Pizza Inn drew about 70, Tuesday’s dinner at Zaxby’s attracted 110, Wednesday’s dinner at Hwy 55 gathered more than 200 and Thursday’s dinner at East Coast Wings nearly filled the restaurant to its maximum occupancy. In all, Copper said, the event’s newest addition was a success.

Hundreds came to Festival Park on the waterfront Friday night for the Community Cookout, where players signed autographs and mingled with attendees. Following the cookout, Washington Police and Fire Service members played a pickup basketball game alongside professional football and basketball players. Unlike last year, teams were picked via draft.

Saturday’s camps, the most anticipated segment of the week, had kids participating in combine-like activities, route running and defensive drills.

“We broke it up into three stages,” Copper said. “The first stage was offense, each child got to play where they wanted to play and we put them with a coach … We took them through a lot of drills like we did in the NFL, a lot of fundamental work.”

Copper was joined by former Northside and ECU standout C.J. Wilson, former NFL fullback Vonta Leach and current Cowboys receiver Jamar Newsome, among others.

“Each year we’re trying to get bigger and better,” Copper said. “Right now, me and my team, we’re going to sit down and look at how to make it better. We’re going to look at things we could have done differently, if any, and go from there. We’ll make adjustments and make it happen.”