Saquon Barkley’s collaboration with Covenant House, a non-profit group aiming to keep America’s youth off the streets, has raised a whopping $1.3million after hosting 350 people for a night at MetLife Stadium – home of the NFL’s New York Giants.
This year was the fifth year in a row that the 26-year-old running back has been the face of the effort, according to NJ.com. Contributors swapped their heated homes to sleep on turf in cardboard boxes on a 31-degree Thursday night in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
There are 82,500 seats in the stadium, 70 percent which could be filled up with young adults who come to the doors of Covenant House each year to find refuge, according to the non-profit.
Barkley partnered with the charity’s New Jersey affiliate for the very first time in 2018, right after being drafted by the Giants as that year’s second overall pick. Covenant House serves young people (18-21) who are experiencing homelessness and who are survivors of human trafficking.
The organization not only helps these people in the short-run, but it also tries to set them up with tools and resources to help them stays off the streets in the future. It’s overall mission is personal to Barkley, who previously shared that he experienced homelessness for a short period of time as a child.
That was the past, I guess I wasn’t really comfortable speaking out on, or grasping that actually was part of my life,’ said the two-time Pro Bowler to a room full of Sleep Out participants on Thursday, as originally reported by NJ.com.
‘I just wanted to put it in the past. But no. That’s why I’m able to sit there and have these conversations with these young adults and listen to everything they’re saying. They hit home for me.’
The Giants have previously worked closely with Covenant House. The late Wellington Mara, who won two Super Bowls as owner of the Giants for 46 years between 1959 and 2005, the year of his death, used to work with the charity’s location in New York.
Barkley has continued the NFL franchise’ long tradition of helping out with the Big Apple’s issues relating to homelessness, raising $7 million since beginning to serve as chairman of Sleep Out five years ago, according to the organization.
What’s more is that, Barkley – the NFL’s 2018 Offensive Rookie of the Year – has been chosen as the Giants’ 2023 nominee for this year’s Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year award, which recognizes a player’s off-field contributions.
To have a player like that, that does things on his own without being prodded to do it, just because he believes in the cause and knows how important it is, it really means a lot to us,’ Giants owner John Mara told NJ Advance Media.
‘I’m happy he’s a Giant.’
For each of the Giants’ home games at MetLife Stadium, Barkley has lower bowl tickets reserved for young people from Covenant House and Children of Promise, an organization that supports children with incarcerated parents. Guests get to interact with him before and after the game.
They help me more than I help them,’ Barkley said. ‘Everyone knows I’m a competitor and what football means to me, but football is such a short period of your life. I’ve realized that at 25-26 years old, and now I’m able to have these conversations with these young adults and there’s so much more that’s going on in this world, and so much more that you can do outside of football.
