This Week in NFL Do-Goodery: Thanksgiving Edition
The sweet smell of Thanksgiving is in the air. For most of society that means family, food and plenty of football. For many NFL players it also means a heightened sense of positively impacting the community. In this mega-edition of our regular feature we capture players brightening up the holiday for those less fortunate, and others focused on an array of equally admirable do-goodery. Ready to have your heart warmed? Let’s gooooo.
– Panthers QB Cam Newton held his 7th annual Thanksgiving Jam where he, along with the Cam Newton foundation fed 1200 underprivileged children in the Charlotte are. He also sent them all home with a second Thanksgiving meal. Newton’s foundation went all out for the event, hiring a face painter, live drummer and balloon artists.
“Each and every year, my challenge is always to expand and make things bigger. And she came through once again,” Newton told Panthers.com in regard to his foundation president, Kim Beal. “We wanted to help as many people as possible.
– Packers QB Aaron Rodgers is donating $1 million dollars to help the recovery efforts of victims of the Butte Valley fire in California. Rodgers, who grew up in nearby Chico, also announced that State Farm will match his donation for every RT of this video using #retweet4good.
Please take a minute to watch this and if you can, take a few seconds to retweet this using the #retweet4good
All the money goes to a great organization for the immediate needs and the recovery efforts for the #CampFireParadise
Thank you 🙏🏻 #ButteStrong #payitforward pic.twitter.com/iQjMbUIHcI— Aaron Rodgers (@AaronRodgers12) November 21, 2018
– Texans S Tyrann Mathieu donated 300 turkeys and sides to families from North Belt Elementary in Humble, TX “Any time I think of Thanksgiving, I think of food, and families getting together, bonding, obviously celebrating great times, a great year. Hopefully with these meals and these turkeys, I can do that for a few families this year” Mathieu said.
– Browns rookies Baker Mayfield, Nick Chubb and the entire 2018 rookie class, along with some veterans teamed up with Greater Cleveland Food Bank to ensure that local families have a good Thanksgiving. The layers worked assembly line style to package turkey and other food that would be dispersed at shelters and soup kitchens.
– Cardinals S Tre’ Boston sent his off day reading to elementary students in Tempe as part of a program promoting literacy in the Valley schools. Boston may have slipped in a little rock-paper-scissors as well.
– Broncos G Connor McGovern and OT Elijah Wilkinson were among the Broncos players who handed out almost 3000 turkey and fixings boxes to families in need through the Denver Rescue Mission.
– Steelers players Brian Allen, Anthony Chickillo, Mike Hilton, Tyler Matakevich, Jaylen Samuels, T.J. Watt and Mason Rudolph presented a donation of $15,000 to the Boys and Girls Clubs of Western Pennsylvania as part of the NFL’s Social Justice Fund.
– Lions DT Damon Harrison sent representatives from his foundation to his hometown of New Iberia, Louisiana to find families in need this Thanksgiving. Harrison in turn donated 150 turkeys to needy families.
– Dolphins WR Albert Wilson handed out free turkeys in Fort Pierce Florida at an event that also featured a fish fry and live music.
– Cardinals CB Patrick Peterson held a Thanksgiving Giveaway in Mesa in which he handed out 221 turkeys to families in need. “It’s about putting smiles on people’s faces, warming people’s hearts,” Peterson said from the event.
– Bears kickers Cody Parkey and Pat O’Donnell handed out 75 turkeys at the Lake County YWCA this week.
– Eagles S Rodney McLeod provided 200 turkeys to families in need in Wilmington; while teammate CB Jalen Mills distributed gift baskets to young people.
– Texans NT D.J. Reader, along with DE Carlos Watkins spent their off day passing out fresh food to the homeless in downtown Houston. “To get out here and put that elbow grease and that work in and get that genuine conversation and somebody seeing you out there doing stuff with them. That’s what it’s all about,” Reader told Click2Housyon.
