[ad_1]
OWINGS MILLS, Md. – Baltimore Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson expressed his gratitude Monday to the Buffalo Bills fan base, whose donations have reached $ 360,000 to one of his favorite charities.
“I appreciate that Bills Mafia”, Jackson written on twitter. “It means a lot not only to me but to these children as well.”
The wave of support for Louisville’s “Blessings in a Backpack” chapter began Saturday night after the Bills’ 17-3 win over the visiting Ravens in their AFC Division playoff game, where the NFL MVP in title was ruled out at the end of the third trimester with a concussion.
As of Monday, there were 13,600 individual donations from fans of Bills, who are affectionately known as the “Bills Mafia”.
“It was just overwhelming – in the best possible way,” said Nikki Grizzle of “Blessings in a Backpack”.
Jackson, a Heisman Trophy winner at the University of Louisville, raised $ 25,000 for the charity through autograph signatures in 2018. Less than a day after Buffalo’s playoff victory over Baltimore, Bills fans had raised more than 10 times that amount.
The organization’s mission is to mobilize communities, individuals, and resources to provide weekend food to elementary school children across America who might otherwise go hungry. According to its website, the program can feed a child on weekends for a 38-week school year for $ 130.
This is the last charity gesture from Bills fans. At the end of the 2017 regular season, when quarterback Andy Dalton led the Cincinnati Bengals to a win that helped the Bills advance to the playoffs, they did something similar for Dalton.
Bills fans also made a mass donation earlier this season to John R. Oishei Children’s Hospital following news of the death of Buffalo quarterback’s grandmother Josh Allen. Donations to this cause have eclipsed $ 1 million.
Mike Reiss of ESPN contributed to this article.
[ad_2]
Source link