Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and his wife, Kelly, are donating $100,000 to local organizations and paying for $20,000 worth of meals for first responders and hospital workers to help provide relief for COVID-19.
The Staffords, who have been in the Detroit area since Matthew was drafted as the No. 1 overall pick in 2009, decided to give money to Forgotten Harvest, an organization delivering food to local charities around Detroit, and to the Detroit Public School system to help with students in the city dealing with the coronavirus crisis.
“Obviously, Kelly and I feel really blessed to be in the situation we’re in,” Matthew Stafford told the team’s website. “Some of that comes with respect to the people who are in your community and have been having a hard go of it. This virus is affecting all people, and people in all areas.
Read: Kelly Stafford's recovery from brain tumor, in her own words
“We’re trying to help out what is home to us, and what’s been home to us for 12 years.”
Kelly Stafford initially announced the couple’s plans to help with COVID relief on her Instagram page Wednesday. On Thursday, she said they are pairing with four restaurants near the four major southeast Michigan hospitals to provide meals to workers coming off their shift.
That includes Zingerman’s Deli close to the University of Michigan hospital, where she had surgery to remove a brain tumor last year, as well as the Henry Ford Hospital in midtown Detroit (Slows Bar-B-Q), Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak (Wahlburgers) and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Oakland County (Roadside B&G).
“For all of you in Michigan who are putting your own health and life on the line to take care of others, we are all in such debt to you,” Kelly Stafford wrote on Instagram. “Matthew and I wanted to make sure that you knew how much we appreciate you and what you are doing and so did these restaurants we partnered with.
“So please, if you are an employee of a hospital, please have whatever meal you want from any of these restaurants above…on the Staffords.”
Kelly Stafford said these are for take-out orders only and limited to three meals per pickup – and to mention you work for a hospital when you place your order and to bring your hospital bad as ID when you show up.
Kelly Stafford had, at one time, gone to nursing school and had passed her nursing exam in 2014.
“This is such a crazy, scary time in life and we couldn’t imagine what your days are like on the front line of it all,” Kelly Stafford wrote. “Please know we are thinking about y’all, praying for y’all and how grateful we are for the selfless service you are providing.”
The Staffords aren’t the only people involved with the Lions to be raising funds for COVID relief. Running backs coach Kyle Caskey announced Wednesday he and his wife were attempting to raise $20,000 through Gleaners to provide 60,000 meals around Detroit.
HUNGER is a major issue during these trying times while we deal with COVID-19.@NFLBombShell and I have partnered with @Gleaners to create a Virtual Food Drive.
— Kyle Caskey (@CoachKyleCaskey) March 25, 2020
Please donate today and help us reach our goal of $20K or roughly 60,000 meals around Detroit.https://t.co/wa8FumOoky
In less than 24 hours, Caskey and his wife have reached 40 percent of their goal.