Jenkins, Sanchez Provide Baskets Of Hope For Children At St. Christopher's
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — It takes immense courage for an NFL player to walk on to a football field. It's life and death in the human car crashes that take place. It takes even more courage to visit a sickly child in a hospital, the kind of mettle Eagles' safety Malcolm Jenkins and quarterback Mark Sanchez managed to summon on Thursday, when they delivered Baskets of Hope to children at St. Christopher's Hospital.
Jenkins and Sanchez, along with members of the Malcolm Jenkins Foundation, teamed with Baskets of Hope, a 501 non-profit organization that provides baskets filled with age-appropriate toys and games for sick children. Baskets of Hope worked with sponsors and donors, including the Malcolm Jenkins Foundation, to garner over $1-million worth of items to distribute to families and children in need.
The organization works in conjunction with the NFL to distribute the packages. So while the football world was focused on the NFL Draft Thursday night, Jenkins and Sanchez were doing real work putting smiles on kid's faces in an environment that often times doesn't provide too many happy faces.
"Basket of Hope is an organization that is active in all 32 NFL cities and I had the opportunity to be the sponsor for one year in New Orleans and were able to pass out Baskets of Hope to the kids and their families, and I get a chance to see up close what it meant to those families," Jenkins said. "This is huge for my foundation to be the sponsor. You see these kids in these small rooms, and they're not outside playing like their friends are. To give a kid a smile and some support is huge thing. You want to encourage them and it's something I enjoy doing personally, because this is something I was fortunate enough not to experience. I know what living an active lifestyle and all of the things I had a as kid means to me."
For Sanchez, this was the first time working with Baskets of Hope, and second time working with Malcolm Jenkins Foundation.
"It seems like this is why Malcolm is here, and this is why coach (Chip) Kelly loves him, because on a busy day, he's taking the time out and making sick kids smile," Sanchez said. "We worked out and he grabbed me and said, 'We have to go see these kids, it's important.' I'm here. He told me this is awesome and I would love it. It's why I wanted to do this. The Eagles do a great job with this. I love doing it."
