Eric Kendricks Raises $20,000 To Fight Childhood Hunger

Eric Kendricks, the outstanding middle linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings, had a breakthrough season in 2016. But, even with as much of an impact as he made on the field this past year, on Monday he made an off-the-field contribution that will do even more.

Kendricks and his brother Mychal, a linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles, presented a check for $20,000 to The Sheridan Story. The Sheridan Story is an organization that fights childhood hunger in the Twin Cities area. The organization gives children a parcel of food on Fridays, ensuring that they have food to take home and eat over a weekend.

According to Rob Williams, the executive director of The Sheridan Story, the $20,000 donation will provide 5,000 bags of food for children that need them. The donations came from Kendricks’ “Sacks for Kids” campaign, which raised money based on the number of quarterback sacks the Vikings’ defense recorded over the course of the 2016 season.

Kendricks said that he’s just trying to do his part to make sure that children don’t go without.

“My mom worked her butt off to keep food on the table for us and a roof over our head,” Kendricks said. “I can’t say I didn’t see (childhood hunger) in the neighborhood I grew up in.

“I understand that I needed help as a child and that I was given that help from all types of areas,” Kendricks added. “Whether it was family, friends, my teachers … I understand that it takes a village to raise a child. I want to help be that village.”

As we always say when stories like this come across the radar, it’s pretty awesome to see members of the Vikings getting out into the community and making an impact like this. Hopefully we’ll continue to see a lot more of this in the future. Under the ownership of the Wilf family, it seems like the Vikings have made service to the community a much bigger part of what they do, and that’s reflected in things like this.

Kudos to the Kendricks brothers for making this donation to The Sheridan Story and helping out a bunch of young people in the Twin Cities area.