Getty Matthew Stafford playing the Packers.
Matthew Stafford has managed to carve out a strong legacy with Detroit Lions fans, and as he exits town, it’s clear that legacy is going to receive yet another boost.
Stafford has been generous for years with his charitable efforts, and even though he is leaving Detroit, it’s going to continue. Recently, Stafford revealed that he was donating $1 million dollars to start an education center in Detroit.
Matt and Kelly Stafford make a big donation to the city of Detroit before leaving after 12 years 🙏
Respect.
The Stafford family will join with SAY Detroit and author as well as Detroit Free Press columnist Mitch Albom to create an education center to pair with the SAY Play center which they’ve already set up. This will help Stafford’s charitable goals continue in Detroit well after he has moved on.
Stafford deserves major credit for this generous move as he gets set to leave next month.
Matthew Stafford Revealed Georgia Donation
It isn’t just Detroit where Stafford is putting together a strong charitable effort and serving the community. Stafford along with his wife Kelly have pledged $350,000 to the University of Georgia to help kick-start a social justice program for student athletes at the school. They were joined by Georgia head coach Kirby Smart and his wife Mary Beth, who donated $150,000. Together, the amount reaches $500,000.
Lions QB Matthew Stafford and wife Kelly, along with Georgia HC Kirby Smart and his wife Mary Beth, have endowed $500k to a social justice program supporting UGA student athletes. Both the Staffords and the Smarts were student athletes at Georgia.
While complete specifics have not been revealed on what the donations will serve to fund at this point, it is said in the statement that the donation will help student athletes, coaches and staff in the areas of diversity, inclusion, equity and social justice at the university. More specifics will be revealed at a later date with regards to the actual plan.
It’s clear the Stafford family wanted to get involved in helping matters at their alma mater, and with this donation, that’s been done in a big way. It will be exciting to see how the Stafford’s gift helps in the future, and that’s true for the Detroit gift as well.
Matthew Stafford ‘Torn’ Over Lions Exit
It’s clear that Stafford has some deep feelings about his exit from the Motor City. As he explained in another piece with Mitch Albom of the Detroit Free Press, Stafford is excited for his new start, but remains partially torn over his exit because of the connection he still has with Detroit.
Stafford told Albom:
“Obviously, we were excited for a new start, excited for the whole process of being on the trading block to be over. Now we had a place. We knew where we were going. I was excited about their roster and their coaching staff and what they can bring to the table and their recent success.
“But at the same time, it was a close of the door in Detroit. At that moment it was real.”
Stafford did not take that lightly. His biggest worry, he says, was that the Lions or anyone else would think that he was turning his back on them.
“You know, I want nothing more than to be able to come back to this place 10 years from now and everybody welcome me with open arms. And that was one of the biggest things that was weighing on me as I went in there to talk to them. I was like, ‘I don’t want anybody to ever feel like I’m giving up on this town, or this city, or this place, I gave it everything I possibly had here.”
Stafford being afraid of not finishing the job or feeling as if he had begged out is not unwarranted, but it’s more than possible that he underestimated the amount of fan support he will have in the end, even as heads out of town. Clearly, it’s not a situation where Stafford is thrilled to be walking away, even as he realized it was time to do so.
Even as he leaves, Stafford is set on doing some big things for the city he’s grown to love.
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