San Francisco 49ers' Richard Sherman pays off $27,000 to clear student lunch debt in two schools in California, Washington
The San Francisco 49ers' player Richard Sherman has reportedly paid nearly $27,000 to clear outstanding school lunch debts in certain California and Washington state districts. The National Football League (NFL) player has also made a significant donation assisting a team of budding football players to attend a championship tournament.
Sherman is reported to have cleared $27,000 in lunch debt for public school children in Santa Clara, California, and Tacoma, Washington. The 49ers play their home games in Santa Clara and near Tacoma is where his former team Seattle Seahawks used to play.
The 31-year-old cornerback also donated $5,000 to a Pop Warner team from his hometown of Compton, California. The team was reportedly raising money to attend the National Youth Championship in Florida. The National Football League Players Association reported that the player also promoted the team's GoFundMe page, which returned six times the amount aimed from his followers.
Sherman, while speaking to the association, said: "I was excited to help give these kids an opportunity to do something really special. We wanted to reward them for their hard work and dedication, and their excellence in academics."
The news came to light after the principal of the Cabrillo Middle School in Santa Clara posted a message of gratitude on the school's website on Tuesday. Principal Stan Garber wrote that Sherman had stepped up to pay off a bill for unpaid school lunches. He added that Sherman pulled him from his shift as a docent at the 49ers museum on November 23 to hand him a "person check for $7,491.27. "Go 49ers, Go Richard Sherman!" wrote Garber in the post, KPIX reported.
Sherman's foundation, in a letter to the middle school's nutrition services department, wrote: "We have found that eliminating student lunch debt is one way to help assist students and their families in relieving some of the stress that comes with attending school on a daily basis. The last thing any child should have to worry about is being able to afford eating breakfast and lunch at school; we aim to do our part in eliminating that obstacle."
Shortly after his donation to the California school was reported, the coordinator of corporate communications for the 49ers, Tessa Giammona, tweeted that the cornerback had made a substantially higher donation to clear lunch debt at the Tacoma School State too.