Cleveland Browns gather for an afternoon of volunteering at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank
The Greater Cleveland Food Bank is a remarkable organization. From its sprawling warehouse located at 15500 Waterloo Road in Cleveland it distributes much needed food to a six county area that includes Ashland, Ashtabula, Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake and Richland County. On average the organization sends out over 55 million meals a year.
The Cleveland Browns are heavily invested with the Greater Cleveland Food Bank with such efforts as their yearly food drive at First Energy Stadium, the yearly Taste of the Browns Gala and an afternoon of volunteering at the food bank just prior to Thanksgiving. The results are incredible as the food drive alone resulted in 120,000 meals while the 19th annual Taste of the Browns (hosted by OL Joe Thomas and alumni WR Josh Cribbs) raising enough money to provide 1,000,000 meals.
This past Tuesday, 19 current members of the Cleveland Browns along with Cleveland Browns Alumni members, Cleveland Browns Office Staff, the Browns Women Organization took their day off in order to volunteer hours of help at the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. Teams packaged bags of food destined for students so they don’t go hungry over the weekends they are out of school. Team members helped with the grunt work of loading elements of Thanksgiving dinners into the various trucks, cars and vans who then delivered the food to area kitchens for preparation.
Cleveland Browns veteran team members who participated included OL Joel Bitonio, RB Duke Johnson Jr., OL Marcus Martin, LB Tank Carder, DL Tyrone Holmes, LB Joe Schobert, OL Spencer Drango, DL Danny Shelton, TE Randall Telfer, LS Charley Hughlett and DL T.Y. McGill. They were joined by members of the Cleveland Browns Rookie Class that consisted of OL Zach Banner, LB B.J. Bello, DL Caleb Brantley, LB Austin Calitro, RB Matthew Dayes, DL Miles Garrett, WR Bug Howard, K Zane Gonzalez, OL Rod Johnson, QB DeShone Kizer, OL Korren Kirven, DB Kai Nacua, TE David Njoku, DL Larry Ogunjobi, DB Jabrill Peppers, RB Josh Rounds, DB Howard Wilson and OL Andrew Wylie as well as Cleveland Browns alumni DT Bob Golic, QB Dave Mays and LB/DE John Thierry.
This volunteer effort was part of the ongoing #give10 program that is part of the First and Ten initiative that has been in place since June of 2014. Fans are encouraged to go to the Cleveland Browns website and by clicking on “Community” pledge ten hours of community volunteer service during a one year period. After completing their hours they are invited to come back and share the experience. The Cleveland Browns are the only team in the NFL to promote a long term volunteer program that unifies the team with its worldwide fan base.
The Greater Cleveland Food Bank’s mission is to ensure that everyone in the community has the nutritious food they need on a daily basis. For each $1 donation they are able to provide four nutritious meals to those in need. For more information go to www.clevelandfoodbank.org.