In life after Seahawks, Richard Sherman continues giving back to Northwest

Star NFL cornerback Richard Sherman may currently play for the Seahawks’ chief NFC West rival down in San Francisco, but that hasn’t stopped him from continuing to stay involved in helping local communities in the Northwest.

Sherman has made a point of giving back throughout his career, highlighted most recently over the Thanksgiving holiday by $22,000 he donated to cover lunch debt for students in Tacoma.

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“I’m only one person, but I try to help him much as I can,” Sherman told KIRO Nights hosts Gee Scott and Aaron Mason. “No kid deserves to be in debt for school lunch, and every kid deserves a meal. No kid deserves to be shamed, and when I heard that was going on, I felt like I could help.”

That’s not where his recent charitable giving — both in Washington and beyond — stops. He also donated another $7,000 to clear lunch debt for students in Santa Clara, $6,000 to a training facility in Bellevue, and $5,000 to a youth football team in Compton, Calif. so that it could travel to the National Championships in Florida.

Someone get me in contact with the person running the show here please. I respect good football but I respect the 3.1 min gpa more. Establishing good habits young. I would like to help. https://t.co/2sqP9rzELr

— Richard Sherman (@RSherman_25) November 18, 2019

“Those kids deserve a once in a lifetime experience and I was able to help give them that,” Sherman noted. “I’m sure they’re appreciative, and that’ll go a long way to change their lives and allow them to see see more of the world.”

Sherman also helps run the Blanket Coverage Foundation, which has given and raised over $1.5 million to help students in low income communities, and given aid to more than 70,000 people. Closer to home in Maple Valley, he saw a chance this Thanksgiving to give back to the place he still calls home to this day.

“We decided to help food banks in Maple Valley — their shelves were empty going into Thanksgiving, they were struggling, and they didn’t know how they were going to feed a lot of the families that they were helping,” he described.

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With a coordinated effort across at least five separate food banks, Sherman’s foundation raised 64,000 pounds of food for the community.

“More people get to eat, more people get help, more people get to be involved and to meet people, and to just bring the connections together in a positive way that you don’t see enough of these days,” he said.

Listen to KIRO Nights with Gee Scott and Aaron Mason weekdays from 7-10 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.