Perhaps this year more than most, the NFL means something personal to a great many of its fans. They all have their own team that feels like a part of their community, maybe even a particular player who may as well be family. Joe Burrow, a rookie quarterback for the Cincinnati Bengals became that player for a lot of people on Sunday November 22, when he went down on the field with a torn ACL. It’s his first pro season, and for him, it’s already over. You can’t help but have empathy for the young player.
In that spirit, Bengals fans started to show their solidarity almost instantly by donating $9 each (9, for his jersey number) to the Joe Burrow Hunger Relief Fund, a fundraising effort he began last year to support the Athens County Pantry. The pantry, which is 40 years old this year, provides supplemental and emergency food provisions to people in need in Athens County, where Burrow is from. He began the fund with a $350,000 donation after putting out a call for generosity to his fans during his acceptance of the 2019 Heisman Trophy, and it was matched with another $350,000 from the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, a philanthropic group.
Burrow, who grew up in a food-insecure household, has made it a personal focus of his career in football to bring the true scale of American poverty to light and to help feed those growing up as he did. The support shown for his injury on Sunday raised nearly $30,000 more for the pantry in just a few hours. His Bengals teammates were outspoken on Twitter with gratitude for the donations on his behalf.
“Thanks for all the love,” Burrows tweeted himself, following his injury. “Can’t get rid of me that easy. See ya next year.”
Source: CBS Sports