Stafford family partners with local restaurants to feed hospital workers

Allen Park — Continuing their history of philanthropy, Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and his wife Kelly have partnered with four local restaurants to supply meals to local hospital workers during the COVID-19 crisis. 

Kelly took to her Instagram to share the details, announcing the couple will pick up the tab for the meals of hospital workers at Roadside Bar and Grill in Bloomfield Hills, Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, Slows To Go in Detroit and Wahlburgers in Royal Oak. 

All four locations are within five minutes of a Metro Detroit hospital. 

"We're going to take some heat off them and put some meals on us," Matthew Stafford told the team's official website. "It's our way to say, 'We appreciate you,' and fuel them up for the fight. We're just trying to inject some cash (in small business) and have those people staying safe."

Orders are limited to three meals and employees are encouraged to mention they work for a hospital when they call in, as well as bring an ID badge when they pick up the food. 

"This is such a crazy, scary time in life and we couldn’t imagine what your days are like on the front line of it all," Kelly wrote on Instagram. "Please know we are thinking about y’all, praying for y’all and how grateful we are for the selfless service you are providing."

This is the latest in a number of things the Stafford family has done for the community.

In addition to offering meals to hospital workers, they also committed an additional $100,000 to Forgotten Harvest, which delivers 138,000 pounds of food to local charities six days a week, and Detroit Public Schools Community District's efforts to provide immediate relief to students impacted by the crisis.

Each Christmas for the past several years, the couple has adopted multiple families in the area, providing gifts and financial support to those in difficult situations during the holiday season. And in 2015, the Staffords donated $1 million to help renovate a park and recreation center in Detroit. 

In 2018, Matthew Stafford was the Lions' nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award, which recognizes outstanding community service activities off the field, as well as excellence on the field.

The Staffords aren't the only members of the Lions organization stepping up to help during the COVID-19 pandemic. Running backs coach Kyle Caskey and his wife Kayla are raising money through Gleaners to provide 60,000 meals to area residents. 

As of Friday morning, the fundraiser was 40 percent of the way to its $20,000 goal.