49ers player joins No One Eats Alone Day at San Jose school

• SAN JOSE, CA – FEBRUARY 15: San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle DeForest Buckner and LeyVa Middle School students share a laugh while using “Conversation cards” to ask questions among them during the school’s “National No One Eats Alone” Day program on Feb. 15, 2019, in San Jose. The Bay Area nonprofit Beyond Differences developed the national “No One Eats Alone” program to encourage students to be inclusive and get to know all their classmates. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

• SAN JOSE, CA – FEBRUARY 15: LeyVa Middle School students play Jenga together during the school’s “National No One Eats Alone” Day program on Feb. 15, 2019, in San Jose. The Bay Area nonprofit Beyond Differences developed the national “No One Eats Alone” program to encourage students to be inclusive and get to know all their classmates. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

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• SAN JOSE, CA – FEBRUARY 15: LeyVa Middle School 8th graders, Dinh Hy, left, and Tayler Nguyen, right, play a washer toss game with fellow students during the school’s “National No One Eats Alone” Day program on Feb. 15, 2019, in San Jose. The Bay Area nonprofit Beyond Differences developed the national “No One Eats Alone” program to encourage students to be inclusive and get to know all their classmates. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

• SAN JOSE, CA – FEBRUARY 15: San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle DeForest Buckner plays Connect 4 game with a LeyVa Middle School student during the school’s “National No One Eats Alone” Day program on Feb. 15, 2019, in San Jose. The Bay Area nonprofit Beyond Differences developed the national “No One Eats Alone” program to encourage students to be inclusive and get to know all their classmates. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

• SAN JOSE, CA – FEBRUARY 15: Beyond Differences co-founder Laura Talmus speaks to LeyVa Middle School students at the beginning of the school’s “National No One Eats Alone” Day program on Feb. 15, 2019, in San Jose. The Bay Area nonprofit Beyond Differences developed the national “No One Eats Alone” program to encourage students to be inclusive and get to know all their classmates. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

• SAN JOSE, CA – FEBRUARY 15: San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle DeForest Buckner interacts with LeyVa Middle School students during the school’s “National No One Eats Alone” Day program on Feb. 15, 2019, in San Jose. The Bay Area nonprofit Beyond Differences developed the national “No One Eats Alone” program to encourage students to be inclusive and get to know all their classmates. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

• SAN JOSE, CA – FEBRUARY 15: San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle DeForest Buckner’s wife Ashlyn Buckner talks with LeyVa Middle School students during the school’s “National No One Eats Alone” Day program on Feb. 15, 2019, in San Jose. The Bay Area nonprofit Beyond Differences developed the national “No One Eats Alone” program to encourage students to be inclusive and get to know all their classmates. (Dai Sugano/Bay Area News Group)

San Francisco 49ers defensive tackle DeForest Buckner and his wife, Ashlyn, joined the 700 students of San Jose’s LeyVa Middle School on Friday for National No One Eats Alone Day. The event encourages students to get to know classmates they don’t know well and engage any students they spot sitting alone. Laura Talmus of the Bay Area nonprofit called Beyond Differences co-founded the program in 2011 when her daughter was suffering from social isolation in middle school. Since then the event has grown from a handful of Northern California schools to thousands across the nation.