Sure the Saints crushed the Colts in last night’s Super Bowl, but to kids in Haiti, players on both teams will forever be heroes. Millions of dollars worth of Super Bowl championship apparel made for the Indianapolis team will go to families desperately in need of clothing following last month’s devastating earthquake in Haiti, thanks to a partnership between the NFL and World Vision, now in its 18th year.
“For years, World Vision has helped us to ensure that no NFL apparel goes to waste,” David Krichavsky, NFL director of community relations, said in an article on World Vision’s website. “With the enormous needs in Haiti and World Vision’s long-term presence there, we know that these goods will go to very good use.”
Each year, Reebok produces shirts and caps and McArthur Towel & Sports produces Trophy Towels for both teams in advance of game night, even though there can only be one winner. The gear is held at the ready for the winning team to don immediately following their victory. Of course, this year, the winning team was the Saints (and how good did quarterback Drew Brees look in his championship jersey? We think we even saw his eyes well up with tears, when he held his baby son!)
Meanwhile, the other set of championship gear — the 288 T-shirts and caps made for the Colts — remained hidden behind a locked door at Dolphin Stadium. “By order of the National Football League, those items are never to appear on television or on eBay. They are never even to be seen on American soil,” says an article in The New York Times.
Instead, those pieces will be shipped to a warehouse near Pittsburgh, where they will become property of World Vision, which will package the clothing in wooden boxes to send to those in need. This year, those most in need are in Haiti, and so that’s where the items are headed, along with other much-needed in-kind donations, thanks to donors from around the world.
World Vision also receives and distributes playoff apparel donated by retailers and manufacturers. Shirts, sweatshirts, hats, and other clothing of teams that were eliminated in the playoffs will all head to Haiti. According to World Vision, the donations add up to about $2 million worth of goods.
How that for a winning game strategy?
Read more of Tonic’s continuing Haiti coverage.
Photo courtesy of World Vision.