NFL Players Give Back for Thanksgiving
For Immediate Release
November 27, 2018
Media Contact: Brandon Parker | Communications Manager
Brandon.Parker@nflpa.com| 202-756-9160
NFL PLAYERS GIVE BACK FOR THANKSGIVING
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The NFL Players Association is proud to have player members who understand the true meaning of Thanksgiving by making a positive difference in their hometowns and team cities. The below list is just a sample of the many unique and impactful ways in which current NFL players have embraced the holiday spirit and poured back into their communities.
Lorenzo Alexander
Buffalo Bills
The NFLPA Executive Committee member and his wife took South Park High School students to the theater to watch the Broadway hit musical “Hamilton.”
Doug Baldwin, Shaquill Griffin, Shaquem Griffin, Tyler Lockett, Keenan Reynolds and Nick Vannett
Seattle Seahawks
Partnered with USAA to hose a Thanksgiving meal for active duty service members at CenturyLink Field. The players also took servicemembers on a tour of the locker room, played football on the field, served dinner and signed autographs.
Mark Barron
Los Angeles Rams
Purchased and gave away 1,600 turkeys -- 750 at Figures Community Center, 750 at Prichard City Hall and 100 at Fresenius Kidney Care – at his third annual Thanksgiving event, which also featured live entertainment and was organized in conjunction with Together Assisting People (TAP).
Caleb Benenoch, Cole Boozer, Alex Cappa, Demar Dotson, Ruben Holcomb, Ryan Jensen, Michael Liedtke, Ali Marpet, Donovan Smith, Evan Smith & Leonard Wester
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
For the 12thstraight year, the Bucs offensive line helped provide a Thanksgiving meal for local families in need through “Turkey Time with the O-Line.” Made possible by a $35,000 donation by the offensive line, the players distributed Thanksigivng meals to 1,000 families.
Nigel Bradham
Jacoby Brissett
Nigel Bradham
Philadelphia Eagles
Partnered with Grateful Plate to host his first annual Thanksgiving Meal Serve with the kids and families of Northern Children Services.
Jacoby Brissett
Indianapolis Colts
Paid for and delivered 100 meals to families at the Mary Rigg Neighborhood Center.
Terrence Brooks
New York Jets
Hosted 30 single-parent families for a Thanksgiving meal at the Apostle House in Newark, New Jersey.
John Brown, Matthew Judon, Patrick Onwuasor & Willie Snead IV
Baltimore Ravens
Distributed turkeys and sides to 400 Baltimore-area families at Wolfe Street Academy and a local YMCA.
John Brown & Willie Snead IV
Deon Bush & Sam Acho
Deon Bush
Chicago Bears
His foundation, Doby’s Dream, teamed up with the Salvation Army to launch their Thanksgiving Mobile Canteen, where he served 100 homeless and families in need while spending time with middle-school aged kids. NFLPA Executive Committee member and Bears teammate Sam Acho was also on hand to help.
Calais Campbell
Frank Clark
Calais Campbell
Jacksonville Jaguars
His CRC Foundation provided Thanksgiving meals for 123 families from the Team Up program at Northwestern Middle School in Jacksonville. All of the kids are in Campbell’s CRC Foundation book club.
Frank Clark
Seattle Seahawks
Announced his #GiveYourBest campaign, which encourages people around the country to give something (i.e. time, money, clothes) to the homeless.
Johnathan Cyprien
Tennessee Titans
Through his CypSquad Foundation, Cyprien provided turkeys, snacks and entertainment for low-income families at Little Masters preschool Saturday in Miami.
Carlos Dunlap
Kenyan Drake
Darqueze Dennard, Carlos Dunlap, Michael Johnson & Cedric Ogbuehi
Cincinnati Bengals
Served dinner to and fellowshipped with the community at the City Gospel Mission for the third year in a row.
Ed Dickson, Frank Clark, Poona Ford, Naz Jones & Malik Turner
Seattle Seahawks
Served dinner at the women and children’s shelter of Union Gospel Mission’s Hope Place.
Stefon Diggs
Minnesota Vikings
Helped distribute 1,000 meals to families in need with the help of Land O’Lakes and Second Harvest Heartland.
Patrick DiMarco
Buffalo Bills
The fullback and his family served Thanksgiving dinner to the Matt Urban Hope House in downtown Buffalo, which provides emergency shelter for women and women with children.
Kenyan Drake
Miami Dolphins
Used the bye week to host Thanksgiving dinner for 50 kids of the Broward Boys & Girls Club at Hard Rock Stadium. Each child also went home with a meal kit for them and their families to enjoy on Thanksgiving Day.
Emmanuel Ellerbee
Seattle Seahawks
Hosted a family feast on Thanksgiving Day in Seattle’s Central District.
Rhett Ellison
New York Giants
Went to Penn Station with Project Kind, a local homeless outreach, to distribute tents, sleeping bags, pajamas, blankets and sandwiches that he purchased to the homeless.
Zach Ertz
Lawrence Guy
Zach Ertz
Philadelphia Eagles
The Ertz Family Foundation teamed up with the Acme Foundation and Bringing Hope Home to provide Thanksgiving meals and a gift card to families currently undergoing cancer treatment.
Davon Godchaux
Miami Dolphins
Handed out 152 turkeys to local community members at the Greater Harvest Baptist Church in Miami.
Lawrence Guy
New England Patriots
Held his seventh annual “Lawrence Guy Thanksgiving Giveaway” at the Orchard Garden Boys & Girls Club of Boston. There, he provided 125 local families in need with groceries for their Thanksgiving meals. The guests also got to enjoy an early Thanksgiving meal with Guy and 15 of his Patriots teammates and take part in a raffle for queen-sized beds, gift cards and home appliances.
Anthony Levine, Sr, Tony Jefferson & De'LanceTurner
Cam Heyward
Willie Henry, Tony Jefferson, Anthony Levine, Michael Pierce & De’Lance Turner
Baltimore Ravens
Distributed turkeys and sides at two separate locations to 400 families in the Baltimore area.
Cameron Heyward & Maurkice Pouncey
Pittsburgh Steelers
Hosted his annual turkey giveaway in conjunction with the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, provided 200 local families with a Thanksgiving meal that he, his teammates and City of Pittsburgh police offers helped distribute.
Akiem Hicks
Tyreek Hill
Akiem Hicks
Chicago Bears
Helped serve Thanksgiving dinner to more than 125 children and their families at the Boys & Girls Club of Chicago-Jordan Branch.
Delano Hill & Neiko Thorpe
Seattle Seahawks
The duo bought Thanksgiving dinner for families at Mary’s Place-Burien, a homeless shelter in Seattle, and took time to meet with the families and tour the facility.
Tyreek Hill
Kansas City Chiefs
The Week 3 NFLPA Community MVP held his second annual Thanksgiving giveback with Harvesters, providing 120 families in need with baskets of food.
Micah Hyde
Buffalo Bills
For the second consecutive year, the Pro Bowl safety and his wife hosted a special Thanksgiving dinner for more than 100 Western New York youth from the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County on behalf of his IMagINe for Youth Foundation. He was joined by Bills teammates Dion Dawkins, Jerry Hughes, Matt Milano, Logan Thomas, Levi Wallace and Tre’Davious White.
Mailk Jackson
Jacksonville Jaguars
Hosted a turkey giveaway that provided a frozen turkey and sides for more than 300 USO servicemembers and their families in Jacksonville.
Grady Jarrett
Alshon Jeffrey
Grady Jarrett
Atlanta Falcons
Hosted his annual Thanksgiving dinner at the Atlanta Mission’s Shepherd’s Inn, which is a men’s homeless shelter.
Alshon Jeffrey
Philadelphia Eagles
Teamed up with ACME Markets and Philabundance to hand out over 400 Thanksgiving meals to families of students at Tilden Middle School in Philadelphia.
Chris Jones
Kansas City Chiefs
Handed out more than 1,500 Thanksgiving meals to families at the Second Harvest Community Food Bank.
Cyrus Jones
Baltimore Ravens
Distributed 100 hot meals on Thanksgiving Day to Baltimore individuals in need.
Jarvis Landry
Cleveland Browns
Hosted a special Thanksgiving-themed Backpack Giveaway event at LeBron James’ IPromise Elementary School.
Charles Leno Jr.
Tyrann Mathieu
Charles Leno Jr.
Chicago Bears
Attended a Special Olympics BBQ with local police to support the Special Olympics and help raise money. Leno is a Special Olympics of Illinois ambassador and donates tickets to them for each Bears home game.
Darius Leonard
Indianapolis Colts
The rookie linebacker kicked off his first annual “Maniac Turkey Giveaway” in his hometown of Lake View, South Carolina.
Bennie Logan
Tennessee Titans
Partnered with a local market in his hometown of Coushatta, Louisiana to purchase 70 turkeys and 30 hams that were donated to local families for Thanksgiving.
Sam Martin
Detroit Lions
For the third consecutive year, Martin gave away 100 Thanksgiving dinners to Metro-Detriot families at Eastern Market’s Shed 5.
Tyrann Mathieu
Houston Texans
The Week 0 NFLPA Community MVP brought his annual Tyrann’s Turkeys event to Houston, where he passed out turkeys to local families from the Houston Food Bank. Thanks to his $10,000 donation, 320 families were able to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal and the food bank’s Backpack Buddy program will be able to provide nutritious, kid-friendly food for the weekend for at-risk children in K-12 schools and at its summer meal program sites.
Rodney McLeod
Philadelphia Eagles
Gave out 200 whole turkeys with sides to local families in Delaware as part of his annual Thanksgiving event.
LeSean McCoy
Buffalo Bills
His Shades of Greatness foundation hosted a coat drive in which coats will be distributed at the City of Rochester’s annual Christmas event in December.
Whitney Mercilus
Houston Texans
Catered a Thanksgiving meal at Texas Children’s Hospital for more than 50 families.
Jalen Mills
Philadelphia Eagles
Teamed up with Valley Youth House’s Achieving Independence Center to stuff bags full of Thanksgiving fixings for young individuals coming out of foster care.
Jordan Mills
Buffalo Bills
Partnered with Green Heart Meals to served and feed 400 individuals in need in his hometown of Napoleonville, Louisiana. Mills also donated 80 turkeys to the elderly in the community.
John Miller
Mike Mitchell
John Miller
Buffalo Bills
His foundation worked with Kitchen 32 to serve 125 individuals at Buffalo Northwest Community Center.
Minnesota Vikings offensive line
Volunteered to distribute Thanksgiving meals to over 200 families in need through the Salvation Army.
Mike Mitchell
Indianapolis Colts
Paid for and delivered 100 meals to families at the Edna Martin Christian Center Leadership & legacy Campus.
Cam Newton
Cody Parkey
Cam Newton
Carolina Panthers
Served a Thanksgiving meal to more than 1,200 underprivileged kids in Charlotte at his seventh annual “Cam’s Thanksgiving Jam.” Newton, who was named Week 11 NFLPA Community MVP for his efforts, also provided a Thanksgiving meal for each of them to prepare at home.
Pat O’Donnell and Cody Parkey
Chicago Bears
Distributed turkeys to 75 families at the YWCA Lake County, which is one of five organizations that received donations from the players’ social justice initiative.
Alec Ogletree
New York Giants
Hosted his fifth annual Turkey Drive at Newnan High School in Georgia, where he handed out 1,000 turkeys along with sides to the local community.
Marcus Peters
Los Angeles Rams
Distributed 1,000 turkeys for local families in need in the L.A. area.
Patrick Peterson
Arizona Cardinals
The All-Pro defensive back hosted his second annual Patrick Peterson Thanksgiving Giveaway, where he and some of his Cardinals teammates handed out 221 Thanksgiving meals to local families in need.
C.J. Prosise
Seattle Seahawks
Bussed in 300-plus kids from four different Boys & Girls Clubs for his second annual Thanksgiving dinner event, which also featured raffle prizes, a live DJ and word of encouragement from Prosise.
D.J. Reader
Houston Texans
Gave away 150 turkeys for Thanksgiving in the Third Ward.
Chester Rogers
Indianapolis Colts
Served meals on Thanksgiving Day with the Mozel Sanders Foundation, which is one of the city’s longest-running Thanksgiving events.
Jabaal Sheard
Tyrod Taylor
Jabaal Sheard
Indianapolis Colts
Hosted a Thanksgiving meal through his foundation for 245 families in need and gave away 90 winter coats at Snacks Crossing Elementary School.
Darius Slay
Detroit Lions
He and his wife hosted 23 single-parent families at Detroit PAL for Thanksgiving dinner and provided gifts for those in attendance.
Julian Stanford
Buffalo Bills
During the team’s bye week, Stanford returned to his hometown of Bloomfield, Connecticut and donated 150 Thanksgiving turkeys to local residents.
Tyrod Taylor
Cleveland Browns
Served Thanksgiving meals to more than 100 guests at the Laura House women’s shelter in Cleveland, along with Browns teammates Pharaoh Brown, Christian Kirksey, Devaroe Lawrence and Chris Smith.
Anthony Walker
Indianapolis Colts
Purchased 100 meals for families at the Boner Fitness and Learning Center.
Kayvon Webster
Houston Texans
Impacted both his team city by hosting the Houston Food Banks School Market, which gave out holiday packages and food to over 100 families in need, as well as his hometown by purchasing and distributing 250 turkeys to families in need in Miami.
Albert Wilson
Miami Dolphins
Distributed 100 turkeys to the community of Fort Pierce for Thanksgiving.
Shareece Wright
Houston Texans
Provided Thanksgiving dinner to families in the Colton Project in California for his seventh straight Turkey Drive.