GREEN BAY (NBC26) — The NFL Draft may primarily be about college athletes chasing their dreams, but some of that draft week energy went toward feeding the community Tuesday afternoon.
The smell of hot pizza and the sound of marching band music filled the air outside the New Community Shelter Tuesday evening.
The Love Kitchen program is a larger effort by Little Caesars to address hunger in communities around the United States and Canada.
Watch: NFL, Little Caesars give $50,000, 400 free meals to Green Bay shelter
Tuesday afternoon, they served enough food to feed 400 people in the Green Bay area.
But they weren’t alone. Former Packers Ha Ha Clinton-Dix and Bubba Franks were joined by longtime Packers running back and current Viking Aaron Jones in slinging some pizzas.
For Jones, it was more than just a media appearance.
"Just giving back!” Jones laughed. "Me and my guy, Ian, we just got back from a USO trip in Kuwait. Giving back. It was part of the NFL like a part of what I said the NFL is having some of those initiatives for players to give back.
He further backed up his devotion to giving back.
“Every pro athlete doesn’t give back because they have to. They give back because they want to.”
To cap off the day, the NFL and Little Caesars surprised the New Community Shelter with a $50,000 check.
It's something New Community Shelter CEO Terri Refsguard says she won’t forget.
“Never in a million years. Never in a million years,” Refsguard said. “I hope people learn a little bit more about the New Community Shelter.”
A true celebration of what it means to give back to the community while showing that sports is more than what you see on the football field.
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