Eli’s Big Blue Boost for Charity
Image by courtesy of nechama
In this week’s issue, we profile Nechama — Jewish Response to Disaster, a not-for-profit group from Minnesota that has been helping clear debris from buildings damaged during Hurricane Sandy.
We didn’t realize that the little-known group had a famous friend in the form of football superstar Eli Manning.
While Nechama volunteers were working in northern New Jersey in early November, they got a very special visit from the Giants quarterback, a resident of Hoboken, who stopped by the Hoboken Multi-Service Center and thanked them for an All-Pro effort in helping the community.
“He could come back anytime to volunteer and swing a hammer and we’d do the best to protect his arm,” said Bill Driscoll Jr., Nechama’s executive director.
During the storm, a photo of Manning surveying the damage in his apartment building went viral, thanks to actress Kate Mara, granddaughter of Giants founder Tim Mara.
Everyone was happy for the Big Blue booster.
But Driscoll Jr. admitted having mixed feeling about meeting Manning. After all, Driscoll is from Boston and a fan of the New England Patriots, the team Manning has dismantled in two Super Bowls.
“I’m a Patriots guy and he’s caused us some pain,” Driscoll Jr. said. “But I was happy to see this guy.”
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news this Passover. All donations are being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give this Passover is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
