Area NFL players ‘handoff’ Thanksgiving meals to needy families

ELIDA — Two current and former NFL players teamed up with local school districts Tuesday to provide Thanksgiving meals for needy families.

Kyle Miller, an Elida High School graduate and former member of the San Diego Chargers, and Jarrod Pughsley, a Lima Senior High School graduate and current offensive lineman for the Kansas City Chiefs, were the driving force behind the inaugural event.

The aptly named “Hometown Thanksgiving Handoff” provided 1,000 meals to families in the Elida and Lima school districts. The meals were paid for by the hometown football stars with help from community members who donated money to the cause.

“Me and Jarrod got it started, but we were able to provide an extra 300 to 400 meals based on donations,” Miller said. “With the donations and all the students helping us out, everyone has been a big help.”

The meals were cooked and packaged by Lock Sixteen Steakhouse, and were distributed by students in the DECA and FCA clubs.

Miller said he and Pughsley had participated in meal giveaways during their NFL career, and wanted to bring a similar event to Allen County.

“It was just something we wanted to do to help our own community and take some stress off of families over the Thanksgiving holiday, especially those families with a lot of kids and things like that,” he said.

Pughsley and Miller relied on the school districts to determine which families were most in need of a free Thanksgiving meal. These families were then notified of when they could pick up their meals.

Miller said he and Pughsley came up with the idea in September, so there wasn’t much time to prepare for the event.

“For all of this to come together in such a short period of time, it just shows how much support there is and how much love for the community there is,” he said.

Miller hopes Hometown Thanksgiving Handoff can become an annual event.

“It’s something we definitely plan to keep doing in the future,” he said.

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Craig J. Orosz | The Lima News Former NFL player Kyle Miller, of Elida, packs Thanksgiving meals for area families to be given out Tuesday at the concession stand outside Elida’s football stadium. This event was the brainchild of Miller and Jarrod Pughsley, of Lima, to help the community during this Thanksgiving holiday. More than 1,000 Lock Sixteen Steakhouse Thanksgiving Day meals will be given out this year.

http://www.limaohio.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/54/2015/11/web1_Kyle_Miller_01co.jpgCraig J. Orosz | The Lima News Former NFL player Kyle Miller, of Elida, packs Thanksgiving meals for area families to be given out Tuesday at the concession stand outside Elida’s football stadium. This event was the brainchild of Miller and Jarrod Pughsley, of Lima, to help the community during this Thanksgiving holiday. More than 1,000 Lock Sixteen Steakhouse Thanksgiving Day meals will be given out this year.