Former NFL Player Lonie Paxton Partners with Feeding San Diego to Donate 200 Pounds of Meat to Ronald McDonald House Charities
Kindness is about connecting the dots. A recent food donation made possible by three-time Super Bowl champ turned strategic advisor and cultivator of kindness, Lonie Paxton, is a great example. He connected the dots and brought together three different organizations to get a 200-pound donation of ground beef to Ronald McDonald House Charities. This donation will ultimately become 125,000 meals for patients receiving care at Rady Children’s Hospital.
As a former pro football player, Paxton is used to working with brands to spread the word. But really, it’s most important to him that he spread kindness. When United Harvest, a direct-to-consumer meat company, reached out to him to see if he wanted to facilitate a donation of some of their product, he said yes. He ended up buying 100 pounds himself, in addition to the 100 pounds United Harvest offered to donate. With the food donation secure, Lonie set about finding the right organization to get it to.
Feeding San Diego Steps In
Lonie had already been connected to Feeding San Diego through Kindhumans, a local company and partner of Feeding San Diego. Currently, Kindhumans is running a social media benefit campaign for Feeding San Diego where people can create the word kindness out of any materials, snap a photo, post to Instagram and for every post they will donate 20 meals to Feeding San Diego.
To find a home for this generous donation, he reached out to Feeding San Diego to figure out who could accept it. When we provided a list, he immediately gravitated to Ronald McDonald House Charities.
“I had done some stuff with Rady Children’s Hospital in the past, took my Super Bowl rings, and met with some kids,” Lonie Paxton shares. “Growing up we helped foster kids and families. Playing with the NFL gave me a great vehicle to be a part of many organizations throughout my career.”
“There’s a handful of things that just, people in general, need to survive and feel comfortable. Food, shelter, water. Any of those causes that support those I’m all for and I will continue to help wherever I can,” he went on to say. “That’s one of the missions of Kindhumans. Being part of their mission and brand and helping provide those three necessities, especially post-pandemic, it’s a great feeling to be able to support and it makes me want to do it more.”
Partners in Food Rescue
Ronald McDonald House Charities has been an agency partner of Feeding San Diego for over ten years. The organization participates in our Retail Rescue program. Their team picks up donated food from multiple stores every week. They’re also able to accept one-off donations like this one when they are available. Ronald McDonald House Charities also receives regular deliveries from the Feeding San Diego distribution center twice a month to help stock their kitchen with plenty of food. They currently serve families of children that receive treatment across the street at Rady Children’s Hospital.
“We know that if we can get a warm meal into family members, they’re going to have a renewed sense of energy and respite. Then they can go back to what they were doing across the street, participate as partners in care for their child in the hospital and ultimately get home a little bit faster perhaps. But these meals are key,” says Chuck Day, CEO of Ronald McDonald House Charities.
Kindness Matters
Lonie Paxton is determined to keep on spreading kindness in the world, particularly in San Diego, where he lives with his family.
“Seeing the joy my kids get out of being kind to each other, that’s what keeps me going. Recycling plastic, doing a good deed, or a random act of kindness. Seeing me help Kindhumans out. Their message is to support cause, community, and conscious consumption,” Paxton says. “Kindness for me is something, it’s this common thread through the way that I live and try to treat people. It always feels good to have an open mind in any situation and kindness helps me do that.”
