Displaying items by tag: Thanks4Giving football game

Mother Nature couldn't have been more kind to the 6th Annual Thanks4Giving All-Star Football Game.

The game kicked off Thursday morning at Stow-Munroe Falls High School, with food donations and ticket sales benefiting the North American Indian Cultural Center.

"Since January, we've probably served over 500 families in Summit County with food and other assistance," said NAICC Program Director Cindy Kemp.

Jay Brophy is one of the coordinators. He says the game sets a stage that goes well beyond the game itself. The roster consists of high school football seniors from most schools in Summit County.

"We just know that by bringing the community out together and letting these kids play one last game together that, as a community, it hopefully springboards into more things happening and more donations and more money and whatever we can give, we know it's helping someone who is less fortunate than us," said Brophy.

Kemp says they just gave away 90 turkeys and she says that's the biggest need among Native Americans and others ... food.

"We have a lot of multi-generational families and large families because of the situation with the economy, they're all living together and large families are hard to feed."

Brophy is glad the game has become more popular each year because it helps the core mission.

"We're not out there pushing for bright lights or anything else," said Brophy. "All we want is the community to come together and help support the less fortunate in our area and there's a lot of it."

The NAICC also gives away school supplies and helps in other ways, such as scholarships and job assistance. Kemp says their core recipients are Native American but the organization also reaches out to others.