Salvation Army North to receive $68,000 from NFL Draft-A-Thon to provide COVID-19 relief

 

The Salvation Army Northern Division has been notified it will be receiving over $68,000 raised during the NFL Draft-A-Thon to help fund its COVID-19 relief efforts. The Draft-A-Thon was a campaign sponsored by the NFL Foundation that coincided with the NFL player draft April 23-25, and it has raised nearly $7 million dollars for COVID-19 relief to support six organizations working on the front lines of the pandemic.

NFL teams in eight other cities also chose to support their local Salvation Army as part of the Draft-A-Thon initiative, and another $780,000 will be sent to the national Salvation Army office to be used throughout the United States. In total, the NFL raised over $1,265,000 to support The Salvation Army’s COVID-19 relief efforts.

“We are immensely grateful for the generosity of the NFL and its Foundation for helping raise important funds for people affected by the pandemic’s economic crisis,” said Lt. Colonel Lonneal Richardson, commander of The Salvation Army Northern Division, which includes Minnesota and North Dakota. “We’re especially thankful that the Minnesota Vikings chose The Salvation Army as its sole beneficiary to receive their Draft-A-Thon funds.”

36 million people in the U.S. have been laid off or furloughed from their jobs, and the need for food and emergency assistance has skyrocketed. Salvation Army service centers in the Northern Division have seen requests for assistance increase as much as 900%, with some locations providing boxes of groceries to as many as 350 families a day. On average, each box contains enough food to provide 30 meals.

“The size and scope of the COVID-19 relief effort is unprecedented in our history, and the pandemic’s effect on families will be felt long after the health crisis subsides,” said Brian Molohon, Executive Director of Development. “Thanks to ongoing support from individual donors and organizations like the NFL, we’ll continue our mission to provide help and hope to all who ask—now and into the future.”