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The Stafford family has made Christmas an even more special time in Detroit. For the past few years, they’ve made it a tradition to surprise families in need with an appearance and a ton of gifts for the holiday season.
Kelly Stafford spends weeks hearing stories of families that have experienced some sort of tragedy or are in some sort of need. Then she and Matthew selects a handful to be surprised during the holidays with a visit. Last year, Matthew Stafford explained why the family does this and why it means so much to them.
“My mom was always kind of into (helping others),” Stafford said. “I learned the importance of it. There’s people out there that need help, you know?”
This has been a tradition over the past six or seven years, but this Christmas season, one of the Staffords’ surprises went viral, as he surprised a family that had recently lost their father. Here’s the moment of the surprise from the family’s point of view:
This is what it's all about
— ESPN (@espn) December 26, 2019
Matthew Stafford and his wife, Kelly, surprised three boys who recently lost their father with Christmas presents. (via Deana Harb/Facebook) pic.twitter.com/o1OTVCtGVS
It’s a really cool moment to see kids in true shock as the franchise quarterback shows up unannounced and eventually plays Madden with them.
If you want to know more about this Stafford tradition, here’s a feature on it from last year:
- While we’re on the topic of how awesome the Staffords are, ESPN’s Michael Rothstein has an awesome story on the equipment staff and what their day-to-day life is. How does it relate to Matthew Stafford? Well, you can always tell the true character of a person by how they treat their fellow employees:
It was mentioned in the story, but the equipment people are critical to Matthew Stafford — including helping him figure out the personality of teammates based on how they treat the equipment guys. Stafford has a real affinity for those guys and treats them well.
— Michael Rothstein (@mikerothstein) December 21, 2019
- MLive’s Kyle Meinke talks about the precarious future of Graham Glasgow in Detroit.
- Over the holidays, the Lions added a safety to their practice squad:
#Lions have signed free agent S A.J. Howard to the practice squad. pic.twitter.com/m1MSdjn2lV
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) December 24, 2019
- Stafford was not the only one giving back this holiday season, Devon Kennard teamed up with Foot Locker to give back to youth in Detroit:
.@DevonKennard brought four Detroit high school students to @footlocker for a shopping spree to reward them for their hard work during the school year. #OnePride #WPMOYChallenge Kennard pic.twitter.com/4pf0z7vciq
— Detroit Lions (@Lions) December 25, 2019
- For those hoping the Lions give Kyle Sloter a start, offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell sure made it sound like they’re continuing with David Blough for the season finale against the Packers.
- Merry Christmas, from the Slays: